The use of passive voice in academic writing. Evidence from Danish, Norwegian and Swedish as L1 and L2

The paper studies the use of the passive voice in academic texts written in Mainland Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) by their native speakers and by adult Polish learners of those languages. The corpus consists of 37 MA theses written in Scandinavia and in Poland. A number of referring verbs were chosen for the purpose of the analysis. The results show that while there are discrepancies in the use of the passive voice in texts written by Polish and Scandinavian students, they cannot be unequivocally diagnosed as resulting from the grammatical and stylistic influence of the mother tongue

Association of A/T polymorphism of the CHRM2 gene with bronchodilator response to ipratropium bromide in asthmatic children

Wstęp: Celem niniejszej pracy była analiza asocjacyjna polimorfizmu A/T genu receptora muskarynowego typu 2 (CHRM2) z występowaniem astmy oraz analiza farmakogenetyczna tego polimorfizmu z odpowiedzią rozkurczową na bromek ipratropium - lek antycholinergiczny stosowany w astmie. Materiał i metody: Analizę przeprowadzono w grupie 113 dzieci z astmą oskrzelową oraz w grupie 123 dzieci zdrowych stanowiących grupę kontrolną. Ponadto, w grupie 32 dzieci z astmą przeprowadzono ocenę odpowiedzi rozkurczowej na bromek ipratropium w badaniu spirometrycznym w okresie odstawienia β2-agonisty długodziałającego (salmeterolu). Analizą genetyczną objęto polimorfizm A/T (rs6962027) genu CHRM2. Oznaczanie genotypów wykonano metodą PCR-RFLP. Analizę statystyczną przeprowadzono z wykorzystaniem pakietu Statistica 7.1. Wyniki: W analizie asocjacyjnej nie wykazano związku polimorfizmu A/T genu CHRM2 z występowaniem astmy (p = 0,865 dla genotypów i p = 0,782 dla alleli). W analizie farmakogenetycznej w badanej grupie pacjentów zaobserwowano istotny związek między występowaniem genotypu TT genu CHRM2 a słabą odpowiedzią na lek antycholinergiczny (p = 0,035). Wnioski: Wykazano, że genotyp homozygotyczny TT genu CHRM2 w badanej grupie pacjentów chorujących na astmę był istotnie związany ze słabszą odpowiedzią na bromek ipratropium. Wyniki należy jednak interpretować ostrożnie, zważywszy na małą liczebność analizowanej grupy. Do sformułowania jednoznacznych wniosków istotna będzie weryfikacja uzyskanych wyników przez inne grupy badawcze.Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the possible association of A/T polymorphism of the CHRM2 gene with asthma, and pharmacogenetic analysis of the polymorphism with bronchodilator response to ipratropium bromide, an anticholinergic drug used in asthma. Material and methods: Analysis was performed in a group of 113 children diagnosed with bronchial asthma, and in a group of 123 healthy children from a control group. Moreover, in the group of 32 asthmatic children without concurrent treatment with long-acting β2-agonists, bronchodilator response to ipratropium bromide was evaluated by the spirometric lung function test. Genetic analysis was performed for A/T polymorphism (rs6962027) of the CHRM2 gene. Genotyping was done with the PCR-RFLP method. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica v.7.1 software. Results: No association of A/T polymorphism was found with asthma (p = 0.865 for genotypes and p = 0.782 for alleles). In the pharmacogenetic analysis, it was observed that patients carrying TT genotype of CHRM2 gene polymorphism demonstrated significantly poorer response to anticholinergic drug as compared to the patients with other genotypes for this polymorphism (p = 0.035). Conclusions: We found that TT genotype in the CHRM2 gene was associated with poor bronchodilator response in asthmatic patients. The results should be analyzed carefully considering the small sample size and should be confirmed by other research groups

Aggressiveness test of Phytophthora infestans isolates with different effector alleles

Poster presented at EAPR Pathology & Pests Section Meeting, Arras, France The research leading to these results has received funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, project DivGene: UMO2019/34/H/NZ9/0055

Differences in Avr-vnt1 alleles and aggressiveness in four European Phytophthora infestans lineages

Poster presented at 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PLANT PATHOLOGY ICPP2023, Lyon, France The research leading to these results has received funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, project DivGene: UMO2019/34/H/NZ9/0055

Polymorphisms of two histamine-metabolizing enzymes genes and childhood allergic asthma: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Histamine-metabolizing enzymes (N-methyltransferase and amiloride binding protein 1) are responsible for histamine degradation, a biogenic amine involved in allergic inflammation. Genetic variants of <it>HNMT </it>and <it>ABP1 </it>genes were found to be associated with altered enzyme activity. We hypothesized that alleles leading to decreased enzyme activity and, therefore, decreased inactivation of histamine may be responsible for altered susceptibility to asthma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The aim of this study was to analyze polymorphisms within the <it>HNMT </it>and <it>ABP1 </it>genes in the group of 149 asthmatic children and in the group of 156 healthy children. The genetic analysis involved four polymorphisms of the <it>HNMT </it>gene: rs2071048 (-1637T/C), rs11569723 (-411C/T), rs1801105 (Thr105Ile = 314C/T) and rs1050891 (1097A/T) and rs1049793 (His645Asp) polymorphism for <it>ABP1 </it>gene. Genotyping was performed with use of PCR-RFLP. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica software; linkage disequilibrium analysis was done with use of Haploview software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found an association of TT genotype and T allele of Thr105Ile polymorphism of <it>HNMT </it>gene with asthma. For other polymorphisms for <it>HNMT </it>and <it>ABP1 </it>genes, we have not observed relationship with asthma although the statistical power for some SNPs might not have been sufficient to detect an association. In linkage disequilibrium analysis, moderate linkage was found between -1637C/T and -411C/T polymorphisms of <it>HNMT </it>gene. However, no significant differences in haplotype frequencies were found between the group of the patients and the control group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate modifying influence of histamine N-methyltransferase functional polymorphism on the risk of asthma. The other HNMT polymorphisms and ABP1 functional polymorphism seem unlikely to affect the risk of asthma.</p

Pro Libris: Lubuskie Pismo Literacko-Kulturalne, nr 3 (2009)

134 s. : il.

Nitric Oxide Synthase 2 Promoter Polymorphism Is a Risk Factor for Allergic Asthma in Children

Background and Objectives: In paediatric population, atopic asthma is associated with increased eosinophil counts in patients, that correlate with the airway inflammation measured by the concentration of nitric oxide in exhaled air (FeNO). As the FeNO level is a biomarker of atopic asthma, we assumed that polymorphisms in nitric synthases genes may represent a risk factor for asthma development. The purpose of this study was to analyse the association of NOS genetic variants with childhood asthma in the Polish population. Materials and methods: In study we included 443 children&mdash;220 patients diagnosed with atopic asthma and 223 healthy control subjects. We have genotyped 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 3 genes involved in the nitric oxide synthesis (NOS1, NOS2 and NOS3). All analyses were performed using polymerase chain reaction with restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: We observed significant differences between cases and controls in SNP rs10459953 in NOS2 gene, considering both genotypes (p = 0.001) and alleles (p = 0.0006). The other analyzed polymorphisms did not show association with disease. Conclusions: According to our results, 5&prime;UTR variant within NOS2 isoform may have an impact of asthma susceptibility in the population of Polish children. Further functional studies are required to understand the role of iNOS polymorphism in NOS2 translation and to consider it as a novel risk factor in childhood asthma. The next step would be to apply this knowledge to improve diagnosis and develop novel personalized asthma therapies

Synthesis of naturally-derived macromolecules through simplified electrochemically mediated ATRP

The flavonoid-based macroinitiator was received for the first time by the transesterification reaction of quercetin with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide. In accordance with the “grafting from” strategy, a naturally-occurring star-like polymer with a polar 3,3',4',5,6-pentahydroxyflavone core and hydrophobic poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA) side arms was synthesized via a simplified electrochemically mediated ATRP (seATRP), utilizing only 78 ppm by weight (wt) of a catalytic CuII complex. To demonstrate the possibility of temporal control, seATRP was carried out utilizing a multiple-step potential electrolysis. The rate of the polymerizations was well-controlled by applying optimal potential values during preparative electrolysis to prevent the possibility of intermolecular coupling of the growing polymer arms. This appears to be the first report using on-demand seATRP for the synthesis of QC-(PtBA-Br)5 pseudo-star polymers. The naturally-derived macromolecules showed narrow MWDs (Đ = 1.08–1.11). 1H NMR spectral results confirm the formation of quercetin-based polymers. These new flavonoid-based polymer materials may find applications as antifouling coatings and drug delivery systems