Classification of brown earths based on field and laboratory properties: Problematic issues and proposition of their solution

In this paper, the current problems associated with the classification of brown earths, are presented. According to the Polish Soil Classification (PSC) (1989, 2011), base saturation is the main parameter for identifying eutrophic and dystrophic brown soils. In practice, however, it is not possible to determine the base saturation value in the field. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the base saturation using a regression equation and create a field guide for brown earths, based on the pH value, measured using a Hellige indicator, and the calcium carbonate content. Determination of the pH ranges enabled the classification of brown earth types in the field. These results suggest that pH can be used as a proxy for base saturation especially in the field. A change in the hierarchy of soil (sub)types is proposed for the new Polish Soil Classification

Ocena funkcji systemowej prawej komory z wykorzystaniem tkankowej echokardiografii doplerowskiej u dzieci z zespołem niedorozwoju lewego serca po operacji metodą Fontana — wyniki wstępne

Introduction. Difficulties in the echocardiographic assessment of single ventricle function, particularly with right ventricular morphology, prompt to use different available echocardiographic techniques. Echocardiographic evaluation of the degree of hemodynamic disturbances affecting systemic ventricular function not only allows better investigation of the cardiovascular system but also helps determine prognostic factors to guide further therapeutic decisions. The role of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in paediatric patients with univentricular heart has been highlighted but only few studies evaluated the utility of this method in the evaluation of systemic ventricle systolic and diastolic function after the Fontan procedure. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between conventional echocardiographic and TDI parameters in the evaluation of the performance of a functional single right ventricle in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) after the Fontan procedure. Material and methods. A total of 34 patients with HLHS after staged surgical treatment culminating in the Fontan procedure underwent evaluation, including medical interview, physical examination, electrocardiography, and transthoracic echocardiography in standard views using M-mode, two-dimensional imaging, continuous and pulsed wave Doppler, colour Doppler, and TDI. The effect of demographic and perioperative factors on selected parameters of the echocardiographic evaluation of systemic ventricular function was analysed. In addition, we evaluated relations between conventional echocardiographic and TDI parameters in the evaluation of single right ventricular function in children after Fontan procedure. Results. Statistical analysis showed no significant correlation between TDI parameters of systolic and diastolic function (E’, E’/A’) and standard echocardiographic indices (E, A, E/A). Likewise, no significant correlation was found between the myocardial performance index (MPI) obtained from TDI and conventional MPI. A significant correlation was found between the E/E’ ratio and MPI. Conclusions. No significant correlation found in children after Fontan procedure between diastolic function parameters and right ventricular MPI measured using TDI and conventional echocardiographic parameters indicates that TDI is a technique complementary to conventional echocardiography in the evaluation of single right ventricle function in children. In addition, TDI does not depend on preload, and thus it can be speculated that this technique may identify ventricular dysfunction (mostly diastolic) at a stage when conventional echocardiographic parameters are still normal. Further studies in a larger number of patients are needed to support these conclusions.Wprowadzenie. Trudności w echokardiograficznej ocenie funkcji pojedynczej komory, zwłaszcza o morfologii prawej komory, skłaniają do wykorzystywania w tym celu różnych dostępnych technik echokardiograficznych. Echokardiograficzna ocena stopnia zaburzeń hemodynamicznych, wpływających na funkcję komory systemowej, umożliwi nie tylko lepszą diagnostykę układu krążenia, ale pomoże także w ustaleniu wskaźników prognostycznych o istotnym znaczeniu w podejmowaniu dalszych decyzji terapeutycznych. Obecnie podkreśla się rolę wykorzystania tkankowej echokardiografii doplerowskiej (TDI) u pacjentów pediatrycznych z sercem jednokomorowym. Jednak liczba przeprowadzonych dotychczas badań, służących ocenie przydatności tej metody w ocenie funkcji skurczowej i rozkurczowej komory systemowej po operacji metodą Fontana, pozostaje niewielka. Celem pracy było określenie zależności między parametrami standardowego badania echokardiograficznego a TDI w ocenie funkcji czynnościowo pojedynczej prawej komory u dzieci z zespołem hipoplazji lewego serca (HLHS) po operacji metodą Fontana. Materiał i metody. Badaniem objęto 34 pacjentów z HLHS po wieloetapowym leczeniu kardiochirurgicznym zakończonym operacją metodą Fontana. U każdego dziecka wykonano badanie podmiotowe i przedmiotowe, elektrokardiograficzne oraz echokardiograficzne w standardowych projekcjach w prezentacji M-mode, 2-D, CW, PW i CD, poszerzone o rejestrację z wykorzystaniem TDI. Analizie poddano wpływ czynników demograficznych i okołooperacyjnych na wybrane parametry echokardiograficznej oceny funkcji komory systemowej oraz określono zależności między parametrami badania echokardiograficznego i TDI w ocenie funkcji czynnościowo pojedynczej prawej komory u dzieci po operacji metodą Fontana. Wyniki. Analiza statystyczna wykazała brak istotnej statystycznie korelacji między wskaźnikami funkcji rozkurczowej TDI (E’, E’/A’) a wskaźnikami klasycznej echokardiografii (E, A, E/A) oraz między wskaźnikiem wydolności mięśnia sercowego (MPI) zmierzonym za pomocą TDI (MPI TDI) a MPI konwencjonalnym. Stwierdzono istnienie korelacji wskaźnika E/E’ z MPI. Wnioski. Brak istotnej korelacji między wskaźnikami funkcji rozkurczowej oraz MPI prawej komory u dzieci po operacji metodą Fontana określonymi za pomocą TDI a wskaźnikami klasycznej echokardiografii świadczy o tym, że TDI jest metodą uzupełniającą klasyczne badanie echokardiograficzne w ocenie zaburzeń funkcji czynnościowo pojedynczej prawej komory u dzieci. W związku z powyższym oraz biorąc pod uwagę brak zależności TDI od obciążenia wstępnego, można spekulować, że technika ta może wskazywać na zaburzenia funkcji komory (głównie rozkurczowej) przy jeszcze prawidłowych parametrach konwencjonalnego badania echokardiograficznego. Poparcie tych wniosków wymaga dalszych badań w większej grupie pacjentów.

CANE — Ocena Potrzeb Osób Starszych Camberwell i inne narzędzia oceny potrzeb osób w podeszłym wieku

Planując opiekę, w tym pielęgniarską, nad osobami starszymi należy uwzględnić kompleksowe rozpoznawanie ich potrzeb, z wykorzystaniem przeznaczonych do tego skal. W artykule przybliżono niektóre z nich, koncentrując się na Ocenie Potrzeb Osób Starszych Camberwell (CANE). Głównym celem CANE jest identyfikacja potrzeb starszych pacjentów. Narzędzie to może być przydatne zarówno w codziennej praktyce pielęgniarskiej, jaki wykorzystywane w badaniach klinicznych

Long-distance quantum communication over noisy networks without long-time quantum memory

The problem of sharing entanglement over large distances is crucial for implementations of quantum cryptography. A possible scheme for long-distance entanglement sharing and quantum communication exploits networks whose nodes share Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pairs. In Perseguers et al. [Phys. Rev. A 78, 062324 (2008)] the authors put forward an important isomorphism between storing quantum information in a dimension $D$ and transmission of quantum information in a $D+1$-dimensional network. We show that it is possible to obtain long-distance entanglement in a noisy two-dimensional (2D) network, even when taking into account that encoding and decoding of a state is exposed to an error. For 3D networks we propose a simple encoding and decoding scheme based solely on syndrome measurements on 2D Kitaev topological quantum memory. Our procedure constitutes an alternative scheme of state injection that can be used for universal quantum computation on 2D Kitaev code. It is shown that the encoding scheme is equivalent to teleporting the state, from a specific node into a whole two-dimensional network, through some virtual EPR pair existing within the rest of network qubits. We present an analytic lower bound on fidelity of the encoding and decoding procedure, using as our main tool a modified metric on space-time lattice, deviating from a taxicab metric at the first and the last time slices.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; title modified; appendix included in main text; section IV extended; minor mistakes remove

The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly questionnaire as a tool for the assessment of needs in elderly individuals living in long-term care institutions

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of the study was to evaluate the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly questionnaire (CANE) in assessing the needs of elderly individuals living in long-term care institutions (LTCI) in Poland.Setting and ParticipantsThe needs of 173 residents were assessed. The inclusion criteria were age (at least 75 years of age) and the lack of severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental Scale Examination score of at least 15 points).MeasurementsIn all participants, met and unmet needs were assessed by themselves and by the nursing staff involved in care activities.ResultsThe number of met needs assessed by the staff was higher than in the users’ opinions (p<0.0001), whereas the number of unmet needs was lower (p<0.001). However, the average percentage of the agreement between the user and the staff was as high as 86.2%. The areas characterized by the lowest agreement were Company (65.3%), Memory (75.7%), Eyesight/hearing/communication (70.5%) and Psychological distress (70.5%).ConclusionsDespite a high percentage of agreement reached between the staff and user assessments of needs in our study, we were able to identify the areas of discrepancies between these two perceptions of needs. These can be treated as signals pointing to those aspects of care that should be addressed

Ekspresja genów receptorów melatoninowych i genów związanych z regulacją ich aktywności w gruczolakoraku endometrium

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate transcription activity of melatonin receptors and genes associated with regulation of their activity in endometrial adenocarcinoma to identify probable diagnostic and prognostic molecular markers. Material and methods: The material included endometrial adenocarcinoma tissue samples of histopathological grades G1, G2, G3, and normal endometrium. The molecular analysis was performed on 37 patient samples. Total RNA was extracted and used for the microarray HG-U133A analysis. Among 22 283 ID mRNA, only entities of genes associated with regulation of melatonin receptors activity were selected. qRT-PCR was employed for validation, what allowed to compare melatonin receptor genes activation in endometrial cancer tissues to the normal endometrium. Results: The results of the microarray experiments showed that only 18 ID mRNA were differential in endometrial cancer samples as compared to the control at p-value1.5. These genes were identified as differentially expressed in grade G2- ASMTL, GNA11, PER2, PTGDS and in grade G3- GNAI2, GNA11. Silencing of RGS4 encoding RGP4, which regulates signal transmission by G protein, was observed in all cancer groups, independently of the histopathological grade. Conclusions: The profile expression of genes associated with regulation of melatonin receptors activity was different and dependent on the histopathological grade of endometrial cancer and can be an additional diagnostic and prognostic marker. Statistically significant was the down-regulation of melatonin biosynthesis genes (ASMTL) and melatonin signal transmitters (GNA11, GNA12, RTGSCel pracy: Celem pracy była ocena aktywności transkrypcyjnej genów kodujących receptory melatoninowe oraz genów zaangażowanych w ich regulację w gruczolakoraku endometrium pod kątem poszukiwania molekularnych markerów diagnostycznych i prognostycznych tego nowotworu. Materiał i metody: Materiał do badań stanowiły wycinki gruczolakoraka endometrium typu endometrioidalnego w stopniu histologicznego zróżnicowania G1, G2, G3 oraz endometrium prawidłowego. Badania molekularne wykonano u 37 kobiet. Po izolacji RNA z tkanek techniką mikromacierzy oligonukleotydowych HG-U133A (Affymetrix) spośród 22 283 ID mRNA wyznaczono profil stężenia mRNA genów związanych z aktywnością receptorów melatoninowych. Metodą qRT-PCR oceniono zmiany aktywności transkrypcyjnej genów receptorów melatoninowych w wycinkach gruczolakoraka w porównaniu do endometrium prawidłowego. Wyniki: Analiza transkryptomów metodą mikromacierzy ekspresyjnych (Affymetrix) pozwoliła na wytypowanie 18 ID mRNA dla genów związanych z aktywnością receptorów melatoninowych różnicujących raka endometrium od kontroli, przy założeniu, że wartość p1,5. Wśród genów specyficznie różnicujących raka są: w stopniu G2- ASMTL, GNA11, PER2, PTGDS oraz w stopnia G3- GNA12, GNA11. Wyciszenie genu kodującego białko RGS4, regulujące czas i nasilenie przekazywania sygnału przy udziale białka G (negatywnego regulatora) obserwowano we wszystkich wycinkach raka, niezależnie od stopnia zróżnicowania histologicznego. Wnioski: Profil stężenia mRNA genów uczestniczących w regulacji aktywności biologicznej receptorów melatoninowych zależy od stopnia zróżnicowania histologicznego gruczolakoraka endometrium i może stanowić uzupełniający marker diagnostyczny i prognostyczny raka endometrium. Istotne statystycznie obniżenie ekspresji genów zaangażowanych w proces biosyntezy melatoniny (ASMTL) oraz genów kodujących białka związane z transdukcją sygnału receptorów melatoninowych (GNA11, GNA12, RTGS4, HTR2B i GNRH2), mogą stanowić obiecujące ogniwo w podjęciu nowych terapeutycznych rozwiązań w leczeniu gruczolakoraka endometrium

Clinical Outcomes of Extracranial Carotid Artery-Related Stroke Eligible for Mechanical Reperfusion on Top of Per-Guidelines Thrombolytic Therapy:Analysis from a 6-Month Consecutive Patient Sample in 2 Centers

BACKGROUND: Systemic intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy (MT) are guideline-recommended reperfusion therapies in large-vessel-occlusion ischemic stroke. However, for acute ischemic stroke of extracranial carotid artery origin (AIS-CA) there have been no specific trials, resulting in a data gap. MATERIAL/METHODS: We evaluated referral/treatment pathways, serial imaging, and neurologic 90-day outcomes in consecutive patients, presenting in a real-life series in 2 stroke centers over a period of 6 months, with AIS-CA eligible for emergency mechanical reperfusion (EMR) on top of thrombolysis as per guideline criteria. RESULTS: Of 30 EMR-eligible patients (33.3% in-window for thrombolysis and thrombolysed, 73.3% male, age 39-87 years, median Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) 10, pre-stroke mRS 0–1 in all, tandem lesions 26.7%), 20 (66.7%) were EMR-referred (60% – endovascular, 6.7% – surgery referrals). Only 40% received EMR, nearly exclusively in stroke centers with carotid artery stenting (CAS) expertise (100% eligible patient acceptance rate, 100% treatment delivery involving CAS±MT with culprit lesion sequestration using micronet-covered stents). The emergency surgery rate was 0%. Baseline clinical and imaging characteristics did not differ between EMR-treated and EMR-untreated patients. Ninety-day neurologic status was profoundly better in EMR-treated patients: mRS 0–2 (91.7% vs 0%; P<0.001); mRS 3–5 (8.3% vs 88.9%; P<0.001), mRS 6 (0% vs 11.1%; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In a real-life AIS-CA setting, the referral rate of EMR-eligible patients for EMR was low, and the treatment rate was even lower. AIS-CA revascularization was delivered predominantly in stroke thrombectomy-capable cardioangiology centers, resulting in overwhelmingly superior patient outcome. Large vessel occlusion stroke referral and management pathways should involve centers with proximal-protected CAS expertise. AIS-CA, irrespective of any thrombolysis administration, is a hyperacute cerebral emergency and EMR-eligible patients should be immediately referred for mechanical reperfusion

The war continues not only on the front: a broader look at PTSD in the context of the Russian invasion and its impact on Ukrainian citizens – systematic rewiev

Russia's aggression against Ukraine is undoubtedly a tragic event that will bring various, often difficult to predict, consequences at many levels of functioning. Certainly, the mental health of war victims faces many challenges. The mental health crisis that occurs during war is a public health problem.28 One of the main disorders that appear in people directly or indirectly related to war is PTSD. It arises as a result of experiencing extremely dangerous, terrifying events that go beyond one's ability to cope and is manifested by symptoms such as: obsessive, persistent re-experiencing of traumatic events, avoidance of factors causing a "return" to traumatic memories, excessive arousal and a sense of constant threats.8, 10 Many factors influence the occurrence of PTSD. It is extremely important to look at the reasons that make it difficult to obtain support. mental health and improving the support system. Ukrainian children and youth deserve special attention here. A developing young society must face particularly great challenges, and it is their mental well-being that guarantees better development of the entire nation. Every effort must be made to ensure that citizens of a country at war receive adequate support. We have many methods of help, from basic emergency support, through a wide range of psychotherapy, to medications in the most severe cases. Additionally, the knowledge of the existence of a phenomenon such as post-traumatic growth may give hope and motivation to act to people in mental crisis struggling with symptoms of PTSD. However, the war continues and there will be more and more victims struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health disorders. We cannot determine at this point how much damage this conflict will cause. However, it is worth acting now to prevent and limit the tragic consequences of the situation in which Ukraine finds itself.

The Experiences of People with Dementia and Informal Carers Related to the Closure of Social and Medical Services in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Qualitative Study

Older people with dementia are particularly at risk of COVID-19; however, relatively little is known about the indirect impact of the pandemic on the lives of those living with, and/or caring for someone with, dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of people with dementia and informal carers during the closure of available social and medical services in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with people with dementia (n = 5) and informal carers (n = 21) was performed between June and August 2020 after the first wave of COVID-19 in Poland. Three overarching themes were identified: (1) care re-organization; (2) psychological responses; (3) emerging needs. The factor underlying all these elements was reliance on other people. Social support and engagement are vital to the ongoing health and well-being of people living with dementia and their informal carers. Services need to be strengthened to provide ongoing provision to those living with dementia to reach pre-pandemic levels, if not better. Within the post-pandemic environment, people with dementia and their informal carers need reassurance that they can rely on external institutional and social support able to meet their needs