Państwo i społeczeństwo w XXI wieku : harmonizacja europejskiej przestrzeni współpracy w dziedzinie prawa, kultury i turystyki

Słowo wstępne "Poszerzenie Unii Europejskiej w maju 2004 roku różniło się zasadniczo od wcześniejszych. Wymagało bowiem od państw kandydujących nie tylko ogromnego wysiłku dostosowawczego. Daje się ono porównać raczej z początkowym okresem integracji. Wtedy także trzeba było wkroczyć na zupełnie nieznane ścieżki, które stopniowo doprowadziły do jednolitego systemu instytucjonalnego i prawnego, na którym dziś opiera się Wspólnota. Kraje środkowej części naszego kontynentu wchodziły do Unii również z oczekiwaniem, że członkostwo podniesie rangę tych państw na arenie międzynarodowej oraz jednoznacznie określi ich nową pozycję w Europie. Jednoczenie się Europy jest wyrazem głębokiej wspólnoty kulturowej, czerpiącej ze śródziemnomorskich korzeni naszej cywilizacji."(...

Reverse Modelling of Human Long Bones Using T-Splines - Case of Tibia

Creating a sufficiently accurate digital model of human bone geometry for a specific patient is the starting point for personalized orthopaedic surgical treatment. Such geometrical model of a particular human bone serves as a template for designing personalized bone implant, which can be an endoprostheses, fixator plate or even scaffold. Due to that role, the geometry of a human bone model has to be reusable and modifiable. Otherwise, design of the corresponding personalized implant for a particular human bone is a very difficult task. Modern reverse modelling techniques have greatly accelerated the creation of a bone geometric model. The prevailing modern approach is based on the use of non-uniform rational B-splines. However, recent research shows that the very complex topology of bio-shapes, such as human bones, can be reconstructed more easily using T-Splines. The presented approach of using T-splines in a modelling process allows creation of a bone model with important advantages regarding quality, flexibility and geometric accuracy. The process of reverse modelling starts from the cloud of points gained through computer-tomography images and uses selected referential geometric, i.e. anatomic entities as guiding elements in digital reconstruction of the particular bone geometry

Radon variability due to floor level in two typical residential buildings in Serbia

It is well known that one of the factors that influence the indoor radon variability is the floor level of the buildings. Considering the fact that the main source of indoor radon is radon in soil gas, it is expected that the radon concentration decreases at higher floors. Thus at higher floors the dominant source of radon is originating from building materials, and in some cases there may be deviations from the generally established regularity. In such sense, we chose one freestanding single-family house with loft and other 16-floor high-rise residential building for this study. The indoor radon measurements were performed by two methods: passive and active. We used passive devices based on track-etched detectors: Radtrak2 Radonova. For the short-term indoor radon measurements, we used two active devices: SN1029 and SN1030 (manufactured by Sun Nuclear Corporation). The first device was fixed in the living room at the ground level and the second was moved through the floors of the residential building. Every measuring cycle at the specified floor lasted seven days with the sampling time of 2 h. The results show two different indoor radon behaviours regarding radon variability due to floor level. In the single-family house with loft we registered intense difference between radon concentration in the ground level and loft, while in the high-rise residential building the radon level was almost the same at all floors, and hence we may conclude that radon originated mainly from building materials

Bradykinin type 2 receptor -9/-9 genotype is associated with triceps brachii muscle hypertrophy following strength training in young healthy men

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bradykinin type 2 receptor (<it>B2BRK)</it> genotype was reported to be associated with changes in the left-ventricular mass as a response to aerobic training, as well as in the regulation of the skeletal muscle performance in both athletes and non-athletes. However, there are no reports on the effect of <it>B2BRK</it> 9-bp polymorphism on the response of the skeletal muscle to strength training, and our aim was to determine the relationship between the <it>B2BRK</it> SNP and triceps brachii functional and morphological adaptation to programmed physical activity in young adults.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this 6-week pretest-posttest exercise intervention study, twenty nine healthy young men (21.5 ± 2.7 y, BMI 24.2 ± 3.5 kg/m²) were put on a 6-week exercise protocol using an isoacceleration dynamometer (5 times a week, 5 daily sets with 10 maximal elbow extensions, 1 minute rest between sets). Triceps brachii muscle volumes were assessed by using magnetic resonance imaging before and after the strength training. Bradykinin type 2 receptor 9 base pair polymorphism was determined for all participants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Following the elbow extensors training, an average increase in the volume of both triceps brachii was 5.4 ± 3.4% (from 929.5 ± 146.8 cm³ pre-training to 977.6 ± 140.9 cm³ after training, p<0.001). Triceps brachii volume increase was significantly larger in individuals homozygous for −<it>9</it> allele compared to individuals with one or two +<it>9</it> alleles (−<it>9</it>/-<it>9</it>, 8.5 ± 3.8%; vs. -<it>9</it>/+<it>9</it> and +<it>9</it>/+<it>9</it> combined, 4.7 ± 4.5%, p < 0.05). Mean increases in endurance strength in response to training were 48.4 ± 20.2%, but the increases were not dependent on <it>B2BRK</it> genotype (−<it>9</it>/-<it>9</it>, 50.2 ± 19.2%; vs. -<it>9</it>/+<it>9</it> and +<it>9</it>/+<it>9</it> combined, 46.8 ± 20.7%, p > 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found that muscle morphological response to targeted training – hypertrophy – is related to polymorphisms of <it>B2BRK</it>. However, no significant influence of different <it>B2BRK</it> genotypes on functional muscle properties after strength training in young healthy non athletes was found. This finding could be relevant, not only in predicting individual muscle adaptation capacity to training or sarcopenia related to aging and inactivity, but also in determining new therapeutic strategies targeting genetic control of muscle function, especially for neuromuscular disorders that are characterized by progressive adverse changes in muscle quality, mass, strength and force production (e.g., muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease).</p