The roles of Fibroblast Growth Factor 22 in development, tissue repair and homeostasis, and the associated role of FGF signalling in skin cancer.

PhDFibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) play critical roles during development, tissue homeostasis and repair and in controlling cell proliferation, survival, migration and differentiation. Of the 22 mammalian FGFs, FGF22, a member of the FGF7/10/22 subfamily, is relatively understudied. I have investigated the in vivo functions of FGF22 in mice engineered to lack Fgf22. Fgf22 null animals were viable, fertile and did not display any obvious abnormalities. No differences in skin histology and pelage hair were observed, demonstrating that FGF22 is dispensable during embryogenesis and in unchallenged adult skin. Mice lacking FGF22 were able to heal acute wounds just as efficiently as wild type mice. However, classical two-step skin carcinogenesis challenge revealed that Fgf22 null mice developed considerably less papillomas than wild type mice. Interestingly, Fgf22 knockout mice displayed a significant reduction in body weight and I identified several novel sites of Fgf22 expression in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the morphology and function of various tested tissues of the digestive system were not affected by Fgf22 deletion and the mechanism underlying metabolic differences between Fgf22 wild type and knockout mice remains unknown. FGF22 signals through FGFR2b, a receptor tyrosine kinase that we recently have shown plays a tumour-suppressive role in the mouse skin. Another aspect of my project was to verify whether FGFR2 plays a similar role in human skin, by investigating squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) sections and cell lines isolated from patient SCCs. I observed differences in the pattern of anti-FGFR2 4 immunostaining of normal skin and tumours. Also, since it is well documented that mutations in FGFR2 arise in patients with different types of cancer, I screened DNA isolated from the cell lines and identified eleven different mutations in FGFR2. This study contributes towards a better understanding of the wide spectrum of FGF/FGFR activities and distinct regulatory functions in the biology of physiological and pathological processes

Ocena zmniejszenia strat energii cieplnej budynku wielorodzinnego w wyniku przeprowadzonej termomodernizacji

In the article, the impact of supply and exhaust mechanical ventilation with the recovery on reduce the demand for thermal energy in an apartment building was analyzed. Also examined was the impact of the type of an external thermal insulation on distribution of temperature and pressure in the partition. The calculation was made using Purmo OZC 6.0 software for a historic building, 3-storey, which will undergo a deep thermomodernization. Based on the calculations it was found that the type of the insulation do not affect in a significant way to a heat loss through the baffle, and only affects the thickness of the baffle. The greatest reduction in the energy demand occurs in the result of the application of the mechanical ventilation in the building. Analysis of the loss shows that the traditional ventilation systems produce large heat losses at the level of 46.9%. The calculations have shown that supply and exhaust mechanical ventilation with the heat recovery reduces the heat loss ratio to the level of 26.5%.W artykule przeanalizowano wpływ wentylacji mechanicznej nawiewno-wywiewnej, z odzyskiem ciepła, na zmniejszenie zapotrzebowania na energię cieplną w budynku wielorodzinnym. Sprawdzono również wpływ rodzaju docieplenia na rozkład temperatur i ciśnień w przegrodzie. Obliczeń dokonano za pomocą programu Purmo OZC 6,0 dla zabytkowego budynku wielorodzinnego, 3-kondygnacyjnego, który poddany zostanie głębokiej termomodernizacji. Na podstawie obliczeń stwierdzono, iż rodzaj docieplenia ściany nie wpływa w znaczący sposób na straty ciepła przez przegrodę, a jedynie na grubość samej przegrody. Największe obniżenie zapotrzebowania energetycznego następuje w skutek zastosowania w budynku wentylacji mechanicznej. Analiza strat wykazuje, że tradycyjne systemy wentylacyjne wywołują duże straty ciepła na poziomie 46,9%. Obliczenia wykazały, iż wentylacja mechaniczna nawiewno-wywiewna z odzyskiem ciepła zmniejsza współczynnik strat ciepła do poziomu 26,5%

VIII Warsztaty Młodych Geomorfologów 3–5 czerwca 2013, Lublin – sprawozdanie z warsztatów

Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polski

Properties of GdFeAl ternary compound in two crystallographic structures

Properties of the GdFeAl compounds crystallizing in the cubic MgCu2-type structure as well as in hexagonal MgZn2-type structure have been compared. The electrical resistivity, ac susceptibility and magnetization in function of temperature revealed relatively high magnetic ordering temperature, ca. 200 K. The differences in magnetization were observed for samples crystallizing in two different crystallographic structures. The magnetic moments measured at 4.2 K and up to140 kOe are very far from the value of the magnetic moment of a free Gd ion. The magnetic moments of cubic and hexagonal phases are 1.1 μB and 1.7 μB, respectively

Chemokine alterations in bipolar disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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Agricultural competitive potential and competitive position in the international trade of agricultural and food products in the European Union

Purpose: This paper aimed to evaluate the competitive potential of the agricultural and food sector in the member states of the European Union and identify differences between them with reference to the position of such countries in international agricultural and food trade. Design/Methodology/Approach: The competitive potential was evaluated using a synthetic measure designed using TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution). The potential was confronted with the competitive position of the member states of the European Union in the international trade in agricultural and food products. To this end, among other indicators, the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index was used. The analysis was based on data from EUROSTAT and FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) for years 2007-2017. Findings: The results point to a strong diversification of the level of agricultural development among the member states of the European Union. Four groups of countries characterised by a similar level of the analysed phenomenon were identified. The highest value of the synthetic measure was characteristic of the Netherlands. It was more than 3 times higher than in the country least competitive in that respect (Slovenia). Countries with the highest agricultural competitive potential such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and France, also maintain a high competitive advantage in the international agricultural and food trade. Many countries, in particular those included in EU-12 (Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland) in the analysed period 2007-2017 significantly improved their competitive position in the agricultural and food trade despite a small increase in the competitive potential of agriculture. Practical Implications: The surveys made it possible to identify countries (mainly new member states of the EU) in which, despite relatively large resources of production factors in agriculture, the competitive potential measured with an aggregate measure designed in this paper, taking into account primarily an advantage in terms of quality and not costs and prices, is low. This points to a need for orienting the Common Agricultural Policy at boosting the dynamics of structural transformations in this sector so that in the future these countries are able to maintain a high competitive position in agricultural and food trade. Originality/Value: An added value of this paper is the analysis of multiple factors affecting the competitiveness of the agricultural and food sector and identification of a group of EU countries by means of a synthetic measure designed using TOPSIS, whereas most papers investigate the effect of one factor with a limited number of competitiveness measures. The analysis of relationships between the competitive capacity and the international competitive position of the countries of the European Union in agricultural and food products further contributes to the originality of the study.peer-reviewe