The Impact of Anthropopreassure and Weather Conditions on the Mineral Nitrogen Content in the Organic Soils from Fen Peatlands (Stołowe Mountains, Sw Poland)

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries large peatland areas of the Stołowe Mountains were drained for the forestry use. The aim of the study was to assess the real impact of the natural (climate) and anthropogenic (forestry drainage) factors on the actual nitrogen mineralization in the shallow organic soils in the Stołowe Mountains National Park (SMNP). For the needs of the study, two research transects were established on the fen peatlands located in the central part of the SMNP. Each transect consisted of three sampling plots. The soil samples for the basic soil properties analysis were sampled in April, while undisturbed soil samples for mineral nitrogen were collected in April (spring), July (summer) and October (autumn) to show the seasonal dynamics of nitrogen mineralization. The obtained results revealed that the currently investigated fen peatland soils were rather slightly affected by the drainage network remains. A vast domination of ammonium over the nitrate form observed in the study soils during the growing season might indicate a periodical soil moisture increase limiting the mineralization process. The amount of precipitation and soil moisture had dominant impact on the N mineralization process, especially on the N-NO3 concentrations

Differentiating factors of mental adaptation to disease in women treated for gynaecological cancer

Kupcewicz Ewa, Olewińska Joanna, Pikus Hanna, Jóżwik Marcin. Differentiating factors of mental adaptation to disease in women treated for gynaecological cancer. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(11):40-56. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1041024 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/5004 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 1223 (26.01.2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2017; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.10.2017. Revised: 12.10.2017. Accepted: 03.11.2017. DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS OF MENTAL ADAPTATION TO DISEASE IN WOMEN TREATED FOR GYNAECOLOGICAL CANCER Ewa Kupcewicz¹, Joanna Olewińska¹, Hanna Pikus², Marcin Jóżwik³ ¹Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Studies, Collegium Medicum University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland ²Department of Multimedia and Computer Graphics, Faculty of Mathematics and Information Technology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland ³Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Collegium Medicum, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Corresponding author: Ewa Kupcewicz, PhD Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Studies, Collegium Medicum University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn M. Oczapowskiego 2 10-082 Olsztyn, Poland tel./fax. 895246154 E-mail address: [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0641-3979 A – research concept and design; B – collection and/or assembly of data; C – data analysis and interpretation; D – writing the article; E – critical revision of the article; F – final approval of article. Ewa Kupcewicz¹ - A, B, C, D, E, F Joanna Olewińska¹ - A, B, C Hanna Pikus² - C, D Marcin Jóżwik⁴ - A, D, E, F DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS OF MENTAL ADAPTATION TO DISEASE IN WOMEN TREATED FOR GYNAECOLOGICAL CANCER ABSTRACT Introduction. Cancerous disease has specific dynamics and requires the patient to be able to cope in a constantly changing situation. Aim of the study. Differentiation analysis of the influence of selected sociodemographic and medical variables on the degree of mental adaptation to disease in the group of women treated for gynecological cancer. Material and methods. The study covered 102 women after hysterectomy due to gynaecologic cancer. Mean age of patients was 56.1 (SD=10.75) years. Data was collected using the Mini-MAC Mental Adaptation to Cancer Scale and the questionnaire of own design. The p level of <0.05 was considered significant. Results. Significant differences were observed between the age of the respondents and the anxiety absorption strategy (H=10.19; p<0.02) and the fighting spirit strategy (H=10.95; p<0.02). The extent of hysterectomy significantly differentiated (H=8.10; p<0.04) the intensification of the strategy of impotence, confusion and passive disease. Larger differences in ways to deal with the disease have been revealed by women who, in addition to hysterectomy, have also been treated for other comorbidities. The differentiation was related to the strategy: fighting spirit (H=14.33; p<0.0008), helplessness/hopelessness (H=16.54; p <0.0003) and positive revalidation (H=10.98; p<0.004). Conclusions. Surveyed women showed a more constructive style of coping with cancer and more frequently used a strategy of fighting spirit and positive revalidation. Familiarity of factors differentiating the level of mental adaptation to cancer can influence the modification of the behavior of patients and be useful in the work of the therapeutic team. Keywords: psychological adaptation, stress, gynaecological cance

Mental adaptation to cancer in women with gynaecological cancer

Introduction and objective. Adapting to gynaecological cancer is the problem of accepting and coping with the disease and its consequences. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between stress intensity and strategies for coping with stress and psychological adaptation to disease in women diagnosed with gynaecological cancer. Materials and method. The study was performed on a group of 102 women diagnosed with gynaecologic malignancy. The mean age of patients was 56.1 (SD ±10.75) years. Three self- designed questionnaires were used to carry out the study: Scale of Perceived Stress (PSS-10), Multidimensional Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE) and the Scale of Mental Adaptation to Cancer (Mini-MAC). Statistical significance was set at p <0.05. Results. In more than half of the women surveyed, the severity of stress experienced during the last month was high. Women with a malignant illness significantly differed (p<0.001) in the styles of coping with the disease, preferring a constructive style (M=43.5; SD±5.76) rather than a destructive style (M=21.7; SD±5.28). The highest median values were obtained by positive revalidation (M=21.9; SD±3.01) and fighting spirit (M=21.6; SD±3.47) strategies. The most prominent indicator of predicting a constructive style of coping with cancer was the coping strategy described as Positive Revalidation (ßeta=0.38; R²=0.41); whereas an Acceptance strategy was a predictor of a destructive style (ßeta=-0.30; R²=0.31). Conclusions. Most women facing gynaecological cancer experience a high level of stress, and try to use active strategies to deal with the disease. The results indicate that there is a need to offer special psychological care to oncologically diagnosed women

Polymerization of L-tyrosine, L-phenylalanine, and 2-phenylethylamine as a versatile method of surface modification for implantable medical devices

[Image: see text] Surface properties are crucial for medical device and implant research and applications. We present novel polycatecholamine coatings obtained by oxidative polymerization of l-tyrosine, l-phenylalanine, and 2-phenylethylamine based on mussel glue-inspired chemistry. We optimized the reaction parameters and examined the properties of coatings compared to the ones obtained from polydopamine. We produced polycatecholamine coatings on various materials used to manufacture implantable medical devices, such as polyurethane, but also hard-to-coat polydimethylsiloxane, polytetrafluoroethylene, and stainless steel. The coating process results in significant hydrophilization of the material’s surface, reducing the water contact angle by about 50 to 80% for polytetrafluoroethylene and polyurethane, respectively. We showed that the thickness, roughness, and stability of the polycatecholamine coatings depend on the chemical structure of the oxidized phenylamine. In vitro experiments showed prominent hemocompatibility of our coatings and significant improvement of the adhesion and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The full confluence on the surface of coated polytetrafluoroethylene was achieved after 5 days of cell culture for all tested polycatecholamines, and it was maintained after 14 days. Hence, the use of polycatecholamine coatings can be a simple and versatile method of surface modification of medical devices intended for contact with blood or used in tissue engineering