Half a century of research on diatoms in athalassic habitats in central Poland

The authors would like to dedicate this paper to Prof. Marcin Pliński who started the phycological research in these unique habitats of Central Poland.Part of the geology in the Łódź province was formed during the Upper Permian period when rich Zechstein salt was deposited. Groundwater drains the deposits and flows out in the village of Pełczyska, creating a unique hydrogeological site in Central Poland. An inland, athalassic ecosystem can be a reference site for halophile microflora. The outflow with surrounding marshes has been an algological research site since 1964. The research reveals changes recorded in diatom assemblages from athalassic habitats, characterized by a wide range of salinity levels, and verifies the tolerance of taxa to salinity. The comparative analysis was based on the diatom material sampled in 1964-1965, 1992-1994 and on recently collected samples. The analysis revealed the temporal change in assemblages caused by a change in the chloride concentration, and the spatial change from one to another habitat type, characterized by varying salinity levels. The halophilic species in the studied habitats included e.g. Halamphora dominici, H. tenerrima, Navicula digitoconvergens, N. meulemansii, Staurophora salina. The analysis of changes allowed the verification of the species’ requirements and tolerance range to the salinity factor. Therefore, in the case of Fragilaria famelica and Halamphora sydowii, we propose a change in the halobion system classification

Pure risk premiums under deductibles. A quantitative management in actuarial practice

It is common practice in most insurance lines for the coverage to be restricted by a deductible. In the paper we investigate the influence of deductibles on pure risk premiums. We derive simple but practical formulae for premiums under franchise, fix amount, proportional, limited proportional and disappearing deductibles in terms of the limited expected value function. Next, we apply the results to typical loss distributions, i.e. lognormal, Pareto, Burr, Weibull and gamma. Finally, we analyse a loss data of one of the power companies. We fit distributions to the data and show how the choice of the distribution and a deductible influences the premium.Insurance risk premium; Deductible; Limited expected value function;

Dependence structure of stable R-GARCH processes

In this paper we investigate properties of R-GARCH processes with positive strictly stable innovations. We derive the unconditional distributions and analyze the dependence structure. This analysis is carried out by means of the measure of dependence - the codifference - which extends the behavior of the covariance function to situations where the covariance function is no longer defined. In the case of R-GARCH(1,1,0) process we determine the exact asymptotic behavior.Stable distribution; R-GARCH process; dependence; codifference;

Poszukiwanie brzmienia w kontekście nietypowej obsady orkiestrowej na przykładzie I Koncertu organowego „Adalbertus” Henryka Jana Botora

The article includes suggestions concerning an interpretation of The first organ concert “Adalbertus” by Henryk Jan Botor, a modern Polish composer whose works oppose any attempts to qualify it as a given trend of modern music. Thanks to it, performers have more freedom of interpretation, but, at the same time, are forced to look for an individual key to understand this music. The possibilities of obtaining various sounds of the same fragment mainly derive from the orchestra staff untypical of the very playing. Preparation of the music material took place on the basis of the author’s professional experience, her being a conductor, and consultations with a composer

The role of antioxidant response and nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence in long-term adaptation to Cu-induced stress in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Copper is an essential micronutrient, but at supraoptimal concentrations it is also highly toxic, inducing oxidative stress and disrupting photosynthesis. The aim of the present study was to analyze selected protective mechanisms in strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii adapted and not adapted for growth in the presence of elevated copper concentrations. Two algal lines (tolerant and non-tolerant to high $Cu^{2+}$ concentrations) were used in experiments to study photosynthetic pigment content, peroxidase activity, and non-photochemical quenching. The content of prenyllipids was studied in four different algal lines (two of the same as above and two new ones). The copper-adapted strains contained about 2.6 times more α-tocopherol and plastoquinol and about 1.7 times more total plastoquinone than non-tolerant strains. Exposure to excess copper led to oxidation of the plastoquinone pool in non-tolerant strains, whereas this effect was less pronounced or did not occur in copper-tolerant strains. Peroxidase activity was approximately 1.75 times higher in the tolerant strain than in the non-tolerant one. The increase in peroxidase activity in the tolerant strain was less pronounced when the algae were grown in dim light. In the tolerant line nonphotochemical quenching was induced faster and was usually about 20-30% more efficient than in the non-tolerant line. The improvement of antioxidant defense and photoprotection may be important factors in the evolutionary processes leading to tolerance to heavy metals

Original biotechnology medicines and biosimilars - what one should know to provide safety of treatment?

Leki wytwarzane metodami biotechnologicznymi odgrywają obecnie główną rolę w farmakoterapii wielu chorób, zwłaszcza tych, w których tradycyjne leki chemiczne były dotychczas nieskuteczne. Onkologia stanowi jedną z głównych dziedzin, w których stosuje się biofarmaceutyki. Obecnie dostępne leki biotechnologiczne uważa się za bezpieczne i bardzo dobrze tolerowane, a typowe dla tej grupy preparatów zawierających białka i polipeptydy reakcje immunologiczne są rzadkie. W związku z wygasaniem w ostatnich latach ochrony patentowej leków biotechnologicznych pierwszej generacji (w tym wielu czynników wzrostu) należy oczekiwać stopniowego pojawiania się w lecznictwie leków biotechnologicznych naśladujących leki oryginalne. Określa się je nazwą leków biopodobnych (lub biofarmaceutyków naśladowczych). Wymagania w procesie rejestracji leków biopodobnych zostały już wstępnie określone przez dyrektywę Komisji Europejskiej i wytyczne Europejskiej Agencji ds. Oceny Produktów Medycznych (EMEA), jednak obecnie brakuje podobnych uregulowań prawnych na szczeblu krajowym zarówno w krajach europejskich (poza Francją), jak i w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Niniejsze wprowadzenie do problematyki leków biopodobnych przeznaczone jest dla praktykujących lekarzy, którzy niedługo staną przed wyborem oryginalnego bioleku i leku biopodobnego. W pracy podkreślono ważne i mające praktyczne znaczenie różnice pomiędzy preparatami biopodobnymi i tradycyjnymi lekami generycznymi oraz podano kryteria bezpieczeństwa terapii, zasady śledzenia działań niepożądanych, możliwości automatycznej zamiany leków zachodzącej na poziomie aptek, zasady nazewnictwa i oznaczania leków uzyskiwanych metodami biotechnologicznymi i ich preparatów naśladowczych.Biotechnology medicines play a major role in modern pharmacotherapy. They have already helped to fight many diseases which were recognized as incurable in the previous era of conventional chemical drugs. Oncology remains one of the leading areas for the current and future clinical application of biotechnology medicines. Biotech drugs are generally safe and well-tolerated and adverse reactions typical for biological products such as immunogenicity are rare. Recently, the expiry of patent protection for many original biotech drugs (including most recombinant growth factors) has led to the development of products known as biosimilars or follow-on-biologics. Detailed regulations for the approval of biosimilar products have been recently introduced by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA, in full name: European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products ) but all European countries, except France and the US, lack the national approval pathways on this new kind of biomedicines. This review provides an introduction to the issue of biosimilars revealing the differences between biosimilars and traditional chemical generics as well as potential problems including safety, pharmacovigilance, automatic substitution, naming, labeling and prescription rules

Strategie wartości dla klientów na rynku napojów bezalkoholowych

W pracy dyplomowej omówiono problematykę dostarczania wartości dla klienta na rynku napojów bezalkoholowych, a także przedstawiono wyniki badań empirycznych dotyczących potrzeb klientów na rynku napojów bezalkoholowych w Polsce, segmentacji nabywców oraz wybranych czynników wpływających na proces nabywczy.The diploma thesis discusses the issue of delivering customer value on the non-alcoholic beverages market, as well as the results of empirical research regarding customer needs on the non-alcoholic beverages market in Poland, customer segmentation and selected factors affecting the purchasing process