Innovative Project of Prototype Railway Wagon and Intermodal Transport System

AbstractA special wagon with a low rotatable loading platform for transportation of truck vehicles by rail was developed in Military University of Technology in the Department of Mechanics and Applied Computer Science in Warsaw. The essence of such reloading is to place the semitrailer on a special rotatable platform with the use of a truck tractor. The structure can be used for transportation of different types of vehicles such as tractors, trucks, trailers, semitrailers and cargo containers. The wagon allows quick and fast loading and unloading without any platform infrastructure or terminals. An intermodal transport system based on an innovative concept of the railway wagon, which will use the national railway infrastructure, was developed. The process of loading and unloading the trailers can be performed considering a whole train or individual wagons from any part of the train (no cranes needed). This type of railway wagon will allow transport companies to save time and money for road transport. The advantages of this construction are reduction of the negative impact on the environment as well as an increase of road safety by reducing the number of vehicles on the roads. As part of the work on the wagon and the intermodal transport system, a strength test of the wagon structure was carried out and the effort of the basic components of a the wagon and a complete structure was estimated. For this purpose, numerical analysis was used

Elementy Statystyki. Część I. Statystyka opisowa

Od autorów: "Drodzy Czytelnicy! Przekazujemy na Wasze ręce podręcznik z nadzieją, że ułatwi on proces studiowania przedmiotu statystyka oraz dyscyplin pokrewnych, takich jak ekonometria, marketing, finanse czy rachunkowość. Skrypt zawiera podstawowe zagadnienia związane z teorią i zastosowaniem statystyki opisowej, która - obok wnioskowania statystycznego - stanowi jeden z dwóch filarów szeroko rozumianej statystyki. Zagadnienia omawiane w tej pracy zostały podzielone na pięć rozdziałów. Rozdział pierwszy przeznaczono na opis podstawowych pojęć statystycznych, takich jak - między innymi - zbiorowość i jednostka statystyczna, cecha i zmienna statystyczna. Opisano tutaj także metodologię badań statystycznych. W rozdziale drugim przedstawiono etapy badań statystycznych, ze szczególnym zwróceniem uwagi na sposoby opracowywania i prezentacji materiału statystycznego. W kolejnym rozdziale - trzecim - dokonano przeglądu metod opisu struktury zbiorowości statystycznej, przy wykorzystaniu tzw. miar położenia, zmienności, asymetrii i koncentracji. Rozdział czwarty jest przeglądem metod badania współzależności dwóch i więcej zmiennych statystycznych. Opisano tutaj różnego rodzaju współczynniki korelacji, oraz sposób szacowania parametrów tzw. funkcji regresji przy zastosowaniu metody najmniejszych kwadratów. Ostatni z rozdziałów - piąty - poświęcono zagadnieniom związanym z analizą szeregów czasowych. Opisane w nim metody pozwalają na badanie dynamiki zjawisk lub na określanie tendencji rozwojowych."(...

Impact of ticagrelor administration strategy on its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in patients with unstable angina pectoris: a protocol of a randomized study

Introduction. Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor inhibitor constitutes an essential part of the management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Based on the favorable results of the PLATO trial, ticagrelor is currently recommended as the first line P2Y12 receptor inhibitor in a broad spectrum of ACS patients. According to the recently published data, several conditions, including concurrent analgesia with morphine and clinical presentation as an ACS, may alter ticagrelor absorption and its antiplatelet effect. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to investigate pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of new ticagrelor administration strategies aimed to overcome limitations of the standard ticagrelor loading regimen. Methods/design. The study is designed as a phase IV, single center, randomized, investigator-initiated, parallel-group, open-label, interventional study comparing the influence of various ticagrelor administration strategies on its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Patients with unstable angina pectoris will be randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio into one of three arms, each receiving a 180 mg ticagrelor loading dose (LD). Ticagrelor administration strategies comprise: 1) pulverized ticagrelor administered sublingually, 2) pulverized ticagrelor in 10 mL suspension in tap water administered orally and 3) integral ticagrelor tablets administered orally. An internal pilot study including 30 (10 in each of the arms) is planned in order to determine the final sample size. The primary endpoint of the trial is time (tmax) required for ticagrelor and its active metabolite AR-C124900XX to reach maximum plasma concentration within time frame of six hours after administration of ticagrelor LD. The secondary endpoints include ticagrelor and AR-C124900XX maximum plasma concentration, area under the plasma concentration-time curve for ticagrelor and AR-C124900XX (AUC 0–6h) and platelet reactivity assessed with Multiple Electrode Aggregometry using the Multiplate™ Analyzer prior to and within time frame of six hours following ticagrelor LD. Discussion. This study is expected to provide essential evidence-based data on the impact of ticagrelor administration strategy on its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in patients with unstable angina pectoris. Hopefully, based on its results, further clinical outcome-powered trials on new ticagrelor administration strategies will be designed and conducted.

PILOT STUDY OVER SECONDARY TASK COGNITIVE WORKLOAD INDUCED ON DRIVERS IN AS 1200-6 SIMULATOR

Modern cars are increasingly equipped not only with the driver assisting systems, but also in multimedia devices allowing to track the information, use the Internet or send and receive e-mail. This type of activity can cause dangerous situations by inducing various forms of distraction to the driver. In order to identify the effects caused by performing additional tasks while driving, two types of secondary tasks were proposed.The following article presents the results of a pilot study that uses two additional tasks to induce the driver with cognitive load not related to driving. At the same time, in the course of the experiment, both the driving performance and the quality of performing additional tasks was observed. The article describes selected results of the conducted study

COVID-19 pandemic year in the cardiology department

Introduction: A COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in noticeable changes in the functioning of the Department of Cardiology, dr A. Jurasz University Hospital no. 1 in Bydgoszcz. This study aims to compare the functioning of the university cardiology department in the pandemic year 2020 to the previous years. Materials and methods: The retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology, dr A. Jurasz University Hospital no 1 in Bydgoszcz, Poland, has been performed. Collected data included the number of patients admitted to the hospital, medical diagnoses, performed procedures and in-hospital mortality. Results: Throughout 2020 numbers of both new hospitalizations and diagnostic or therapeutic procedures in electrophysiology, echocardiography and invasive cardiology showed a major decrease. The greatest impact was observed in March, April, and the last 3 months of the year. The pandemic also affected in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: The observed decrease in the number of hospital admissions of specialized cardiac procedures performed in 2020 may have a serious impact on future patients’ profile

The influence of metoclopramide on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of ticagrelor in patients with unstable angina pectoris receiving concomitant treatment with morphine — a protocol of a randomized trial

Introduction. Nowadays, due to the “morphine effect”, the screening of methods that provide quick and effective platelet inhibition with oral P2Y12 inhibitors administrated simultaneously with morphine in patients with acute coronary syndromes are extensively investigated by numerous scientists. Metoclopramide, which stimulates the motility of gastrointestinal tract, may become a potential method of overcoming the negative morphine effect. The present study was designed to demonstrate the influence of metoclopramide administration on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of ticagrelor between patients with unstable angina pectoris treated with morphine and crushed ticagrelor. Methods/design. A study was designed as a phase IV, single-centre, randomized, investigator-initiated, parallel-group, open-label, interventional trial. Patients will be randomized in a 1:1 manner into two arms: 1) patients treated with a combination of crushed ticagrelor and morphine and 2) patients treated with a combination of crushed ticagrelor followed by morphine and metoclopramide. Blood sample collection will be scheduled directly before the administration of ticagrelor loading dose and 15, 30, 45, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 360 minutes after the loading dose. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assessment of ticagrelor and its active metabolite will be evaluated in all pre-defined time points. Discussion. The current study is, to our knowledge, the first one to provide data on the influence of metoclopramide in patients with acute coronary syndromes, who received intravenous opioid analgesia. It is expected to contribute to the development of contemporary knowledge on the treatment of patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes, and should enable clinicians to implement strategies of quick platelet inhibition

Oral NAloxone to overcome the moRphine effect in acute COronary syndrome patients treated with TICagrelor — NARCOTIC trial

Background: Numerous worldwide clinical trials have proven the indisputably negative influence of morphine on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of P2Y12 receptor inhibitors in patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes. The aim of this trial was to evaluate whether oral co-administration of an anti-opioid agent, naloxone, can be considered a successful approach to overcome ‘the morphine effect’. Methods: Consecutive unstable angina patients receiving ticagrelor and morphine with or without orally administered naloxone underwent assessment of platelet reactivity using Multiplate analyzer as well as evaluation of the pharmacokinetic profile of ticagrelor and its active metabolite, AR-C124910XX, at nine pre-defined time points within the first 6 hours following oral intake of the ticagrelor loading dose. Results: The trial shows no significant differences regarding the pharmacokinetics of ticagrelor between both study arms throughout the study period. AR-C124910XX plasma concentration was significantly higher 120 min after the ticagrelor loading dose administration (p = 0.0417). However, the evaluation of pharmacodynamics did not show any statistically significant differences between the study arms. Conclusions: To conclude, this trial shows that naloxone co-administration in ticagrelor-treated acute coronary syndrome patients on concomitant treatment with morphine shows no definite superiority in terms of ticagrelor pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile

Low-dose ticagrelor with or without acetylsalicylic acid in patients with acute coronary syndrome: Rationale and design of the ELECTRA-SIRIO 2 trial

© 2022 Via Medica. This article is available in open access under Creative Common Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Early administration of LEvosimendan in Patients witH decompensAted chroNic hearT failure (ELEPHANT) study. Rationale and protocol of the study

Dobutamine and levosimendan are both indicated for inotropic support in acute decompensated heart failure (HF). The study aimed to assess the impact of early administration of levosimendan (first iv therapeutic approach) versus dobutamine (first iv therapeutic approach) on in-hospital treatment expenses and clinical outcomes in patients with decompensated chronic HF. The ELEPHANT study was designed as a phase III, multicentre, randomized 1:1, double-blind, active-controlled trial that will include patients admitted to the hospital due to HF decompensation. Co-primary endpoints were defined as total in-hospital expenses/survivor and duration of hospitalization/survivor. Secondary efficacy endpoints: on the last day of hospitalization: occurrence of treatment side effects, body weight change during hospitalization, BNP change during hospitalization, in-hospital mortality, additional levosimendan administration due to the ineffectiveness of the initial treatment. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to the active group receiving continuous infusion 24 h of levosimendan 0.1 μg/kg/min or to the control group receiving continuous infusion 24 h of dobutamine 3 μg/kg/min. After the enrolment of 20 patients, results analysis will be performed (pilot phase — single centre). Based on this analysis conducted according to the intention-to-treat principle, the final population size will be defined. The multicentre phase of the study will be initiated after the pilot phase