Psychosocial aspects of infertility and its treatment

Nowadays, more and more couples face impediments associated with conception. Infertility is related with experiencing psychological problems by both partners. One of the infertility treatment procedures is in vitro fertilization. Using this method has significant influence on patients and their family’s psychology. This essay reviews literature about IVF treatment and discusses the significance of infertility to a couple, children development and psychosocial functioning, their relation with parents and public opinion about in vitro fertilization

Folklorystyczne źródła mazurków Fryderyka Chopina w kontekście pracy pedagogicznej

Article focuses on highlighting those phenomena of Chopin’s ma-zurkas which have their source in folklore music and on presenting the ways instructing how to familiarize students with them. The assumption of the author of the work is that comparing Chopin’s mazurkas with folklore music aiming at finding and showing similarities between them is a very important element of pedagogical work. Moreover, the work puts a particular emphasis on the agogic phenomena, especially tempo rubato.Artykuł skupia się na naświetleniu zjawisk w mazurkach Chopi-na, które mają swoje źródło w muzyce folkowej, oraz wskazaniu sposobów na przybliżenie ich uczniowi. Głównym założeniem jest, że ważny element w pracy pedagogicznej nad tymi utworami to zestawienie mazurków Chopina z muzyką folkową i ukazanie ich punktów stycznych. Szczególny nacisk kładziony jest tu na zjawiska agogiczne, zwłaszcza tempo rubato

Polystyrene nanoplastics differentially influence the outcome of infection by two microparasites of the host Daphnia magna

The accumulation of micro- and nanoplastic particles in freshwater bodies has given rise to much concern regarding their potential adverse effects on aquatic biota. Beyond their known effects on single species, recent experimental evidence suggests that host–parasite interactions can also be affected by environmental concentrations of micro- and nanoplastics. However, investigating the effects of contaminants in simplified infection settings (i.e. one host, one parasite) may understate their ecological relevance, considering that co-infections are common in nature. We exposed the cladoceran Daphnia magna to a fungal parasite of the haemolymph (Metschnikowia bicuspidata) and a gut microsporidium (Ordospora colligata), either in single or co-infection. In addition, Daphnia were raised individually in culture media containing 0, 5 or 50 mg l−1 of polystyrene nanoplastic beads (100 nm). Only few infections were successful at the higher nanoplastic concentration, due to increased mortality of the host. While no significant effect of the low concentration was detected on the microsporidium, the proportion of hosts infected by the fungal parasite increased dramatically, leading to more frequent co-infections under nanoplastic exposure. These results indicate that nanoplastics can affect the performance of distinct pathogens in diverging ways, with the potential to favour parasite coexistence in a common zooplanktonic host

Z Miodogórza. Po męsku z kobiecej perspektywy (listy Żmichowskiej do „siostrzeńców z wyboru”)

List dla Narcyzy Żmichowskiej (Gabrielli) to płaszczyzna intelektualnej aktywności, do której bywa skłaniany również odbiorca. W artykule analizie podlega wybrany fragment rozległej twórczości epistolograficznej pisarki. Listy, kierowane przez nią po powstaniu styczniowym do trzech młodych mężczyzn, są omawiane jako rodzaj cyklu, którego spójność kształtuje się za sprawą miejsca (Miodogórze, gdzie rodziła się wspólność ideowa), ukrytego bohatera (zmarły w cytadeli Edward Jurgens) oraz nadawcy maskującego swój prawdziwy  status (kobieta-nauczycielka-przewodnik). W artykule przeanalizowano strategie i cele tak ukształtowanego podmiotu wypowiedzi epistolograficznej

"Przyczyny melancholii" Barbary Iłłakowicz

Publikacja za zgodą redakcji "Pamiętnika Literackiego"BARBARA IŁŁAKOWICZ’S “PRZYCZYNY MELANCHOLII” (“REASONS OF MELANCHOLY”) Edited by MARCIN WOŁK Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń Interpretive notes by EWA OWCZARZ Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń The article contains a presentation and an edition of a 19th c. autobiographical piece in a dialogue form entitled Przyczyny melancholii. (Rozmowa) (Reasons of Melancholy.A Conversation) by Barbara Iłłakowicz (1856–1893). The piece, found in a private archive, is crucial not only as a document of its time and as a source that enriches the state of art about family relations of the poetess Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, the author’s daughter. It is first and foremost an interesting herstory document of the 19thc. Poland and Lithuania: a testimony of personal and professional dilemmas of a woman of noble--yeoman origin and earning her living by her own work. Regardless of emotional and partially financial dependency on a male, Barbara Iłłakowicz does not resign from subjective autonomy and agency. The text openly touches such issues as, e.g., abortion and a woman’s right to decide about herself.Edycja XIX-wiecznego rękopisu - dialogowego tekstu autobiograficznego, autorstwa Barbary Iłłakowicz, matki Barbary Czerwijowskiej i Kazimiery Iłłakowiczówny, partnerki Klemensa Zana

Interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, successful aging, and mortality : the PolSenior study

BACKGROUND: In the elderly, chronic low-grade inflammation (inflammaging) is a risk factor for the development of aging-related diseases and frailty. Using data from several thousand Eastern Europeans aged 65 years and older, we investigated whether the serum levels of two proinflammatory factors, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), were associated with physical and cognitive performance, and could predict mortality in successfully aging elderly. RESULTS: IL-6 and CRP levels systematically increased in an age-dependent manner in the entire study group (IL-6: n = 3496 individuals, p < 0.001 and CRP: n = 3632, p = 0.003), and in the subgroup of successfully aging individuals who had never been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, type 2 diabetes, or cancer, and had a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≥24 and a Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score ≥5 (IL-6: n = 1258, p < 0.001 and CRP: n = 1312, p < 0.001). In the subgroup of individuals suffering from aging-related diseases/disability, only IL-6 increased with age (IL-6: n = 2238, p < 0.001 and CRP: n = 2320, p = 0.249). IL-6 and CRP levels were lower in successfully aging individuals than in the remaining study participants (both p < 0.001). Higher IL-6 and CRP levels were associated with poorer physical performance (lower ADL score) and poorer cognitive performance (lower MMSE score) (both p < 0.001). This association remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, BMI, lipids, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and smoking status. Longer survival was associated with lower concentrations of IL-6 and CRP not only in individuals with aging-related diseases/disability (HR = 1.063 per each pg/mL, 95 % CI: 1.052-1.074, p < 0.001 and HR = 1.020 per each mg/L, 95 % CI: 1.015-1.025, p < 0.001, respectively) but also in the successfully aging subgroup (HR = 1.163 per each pg/mL, 95 % CI: 1.128-1.199, p < 0.001 and HR = 1.074 per each mg/L, 95 % CI: 1.047-1.100, p < 0.001, respectively). These associations remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, BMI, lipids and smoking status. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed similar results (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Both IL-6 and CRP levels were good predictors of physical and cognitive performance and the risk of mortality in both the entire elderly population and in successfully aging individuals

Small-Molecule Hormones: Molecular Mechanisms of Action

Small-molecule hormones play crucial roles in the development and in the maintenance of an adult mammalian organism. On the molecular level, they regulate a plethora of biological pathways. Part of their actions depends on their transcription-regulating properties, exerted by highly specific nuclear receptors which are hormone-dependent transcription factors. Nuclear hormone receptors interact with coactivators, corepressors, basal transcription factors, and other transcription factors in order to modulate the activity of target genes in a manner that is dependent on tissue, age and developmental and pathophysiological states. The biological effect of this mechanism becomes apparent not earlier than 30–60 minutes after hormonal stimulus. In addition, small-molecule hormones modify the function of the cell by a number of nongenomic mechanisms, involving interaction with proteins localized in the plasma membrane, in the cytoplasm, as well as with proteins localized in other cellular membranes and in nonnuclear cellular compartments. The identity of such proteins is still under investigation; however, it seems that extranuclear fractions of nuclear hormone receptors commonly serve this function. A direct interaction of small-molecule hormones with membrane phospholipids and with mRNA is also postulated. In these mechanisms, the reaction to hormonal stimulus appears within seconds or minutes

In Vitro Aggregation Behavior of a Non-Amyloidogenic λ Light Chain Dimer Deriving from U266 Multiple Myeloma Cells

Excessive production of monoclonal light chains due to multiple myeloma can induce aggregation-related disorders, such as light chain amyloidosis (AL) and light chain deposition diseases (LCDD). In this work, we produce a non-amyloidogenic IgE λ light chain dimer from human mammalian cells U266, which originated from a patient suffering from multiple myeloma, and we investigate the effect of several physicochemical parameters on the in vitro stability of this protein. The dimer is stable in physiological conditions and aggregation is observed only when strong denaturating conditions are applied (acidic pH with salt at large concentration or heating at melting temperature Tm at pH 7.4). The produced aggregates are spherical, amorphous oligomers. Despite the larger β-sheet content of such oligomers with respect to the native state, they do not bind Congo Red or ThT. The impossibility to obtain fibrils from the light chain dimer suggests that the occurrence of amyloidosis in patients requires the presence of the light chain fragment in the monomer form, while dimer can form only amorphous oligomers or amorphous deposits. No aggregation is observed after denaturant addition at pH 7.4 or at pH 2.0 with low salt concentration, indicating that not a generic unfolding but specific conformational changes are necessary to trigger aggregation. A specific anion effect in increasing the aggregation rate at pH 2.0 is observed according to the following order: SO4−≫Cl−>H2PO4−, confirming the peculiar role of sulfate in promoting protein aggregation. It is found that, at least for the investigated case, the mechanism of the sulfate effect is related to protein secondary structure changes induced by anion binding

Cysteine and hydrogen sulfide in the regulation of metabolism:Insights from genetics and pharmacology

Obesity and diabetes represent a significant and escalating worldwide health burden. These conditions are characterized by abnormal nutrient homeostasis. One such perturbation is altered metabolism of the sulphur‐containing amino acid cysteine. Obesity is associated with elevated plasma cysteine, whereas diabetes is associated with reduced cysteine levels. One mechanism by which cysteine may act is through its enzymatic breakdown to produce hydrogen sulphide (H(2)S), a gasotransmitter that regulates glucose and lipid homeostasis. Here we review evidence from both pharmacological studies and transgenic models suggesting that cysteine and hydrogen sulphide play a role in the metabolic dysregulation underpinning obesity and diabetes. We then outline the growing evidence that regulation of hydrogen sulphide levels through its catabolism can impact metabolic health. By integrating hydrogen sulphide production and breakdown pathways, we re‐assess current hypothetical models of cysteine and hydrogen sulphide metabolism, offering new insight into their roles in the pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes. © 2015 The Authors. Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland