114 research outputs found
Upadek i nadzieja : powojenna Europa i świat w dziennikach i korespondencji Andrzeja Bobkowskiego
Niniejsza praca omawia twórczość Andrzeja Bobkowskiego. Twórczość Andrzeja Bobkowskiego jest współcześnie bardzo szeroko dyskutowana i omawiana. Rzec by można nawet, iż jej popularność stała się swoistym fenomenem w czasach, gdy książki pisarzy emigracyjnych „wiodą nieraz żywot anemicznie wegetujących cieni i rośli bez wody albo w lepszym wypadku – żywot utajony. Upływ czasu zweryfikował słowa Romana Zimanda, który w 1983 roku pisał o nieobecności pisarstwa Andrzeja Bobkowskiego w faktycznym obiegu współczesnej kultury polskiej. Badacz dodawał wówczas z żalem: „Gdybyż przynajmniej istniał klan >, wąskie grono wyznawców. Choćby tak, jak istnieje klan >, czy jak niegdyś istniał klan wielbicieli Pod wulkanem. Mimo snobizm, takie nieformalne grupy bywają bardzo dla kultury pożyteczne. Ale nie, nawet tego nie ma. Co drugi krytyk jest z Gombrowiczem na ty, a o Bobkowskim nie wspomni nikt. Totschweigen.”
Dzisiaj, niemal trzydzieści lat później, sytuacja uległa zasadniczej zmianie. Dzieło pisarza stało się pełnoprawnym, dynamicznym elementem kultury, a jego nazwisko pojawia się nie tylko w słownikach, czy elitarnych opracowaniach, ale także przy okazji wydarzeń o charakterze pozajęzykowy
Local weather classifications for environmental applications
Local weather classifications for environmental applications. Two approaches of local weather type definitions are presented and illustrated for selected stations of Poland and Hungary. The subjective classification, continuing long traditions, especially in Poland, relies on diurnal values of local weather elements. The main types are defined according to temperature with some sub-types considering relative sunshine duration, diurnal precipitation totals, relative humidity and wind speed. The classification does not make a difference between the seasons of the year, but the occurrence of the classes obviously reflects the annual cycle. Another important feature of this classification is that only a minor part of the theoretically possible combination of the various types and sub-types occurs in all stations of both countries. The objective version of the classification starts from ten possible weather element which are reduced to four according to factor analysis, based on strong correlation between the elements. This analysis yields 3 to 4 factors depending on the specific criteria of selection. The further cluster analysis uses four selected weather elements belonging to different rotated factors. They are the diurnal mean values of temperature, of relative humidity, of cloudiness and of wind speed. From the possible ways of hierarchical cluster analysis (i.e. no a priori assumption on the number of classes), the method of furthest neighbours is selected, indicating the arguments of this decision in the paper. These local weather types are important tools in understanding the role of weather in various environmental indicators, in climatic generalisation of short samples by stratified sampling and in interpretation of the climate change
Purification of phage display-modified bacteriophage T4 by affinity chromatography
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Affinity chromatography is one of the most efficient protein purification strategies. This technique comprises a one-step procedure with a purification level in the order of several thousand-fold, adaptable for various proteins, differentiated in their size, shape, charge, and other properties. The aim of this work was to verify the possibility of applying affinity chromatography in bacteriophage purification, with the perspective of therapeutic purposes. T4 is a large, icosahedral phage that may serve as an efficient display platform for foreign peptides or proteins. Here we propose a new method of T4 phage purification by affinity chromatography after its modification with affinity tags (GST and Histag) by <it>in vivo </it>phage display. As any permanent introduction of extraneous DNA into a phage genome is strongly unfavourable for medical purposes, integration of foreign motifs with the phage genome was not applied. The phage was propagated in bacteria expressing fusions of the phage protein Hoc with affinity tags from bacterial plasmids, independently from the phage expression system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Elution profiles of phages modified with the specific affinity motifs (compared to non-specific phages) document their binding to the affinity resins and effective elution with standard competitive agents. Non-specific binding was also observed, but was 10<sup>2</sup>-10<sup>5 </sup>times weaker than the specific one. GST-modified bacteriophages were also effectively released from glutathione Sepharose by proteolytic cleavage. The possibility of proteolytic release was designed at the stage of expression vector construction. Decrease in LPS content in phage preparations was dependent on the washing intensity; intensive washing resulted in preparations of 11-40 EU/ml.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Affinity tags can be successfully incorporated into the T4 phage capsid by the <it>in vivo </it>phage display technique and they strongly elevate bacteriophage affinity to a specific resin. Affinity chromatography can be considered as a new phage purification method, appropriate for further investigations and development.</p
Lindernia procumbens in Poland : the relationship between weather conditions and the occurrence of the species
Feasibility of home-based cardiac telerehabilitation: Results of TeleInterMed study
Background: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is recommended as an important component of a comprehensive approach to cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. Data have shown that a small percentage of eligible patients participate in CR despite their well established benefits. Applying telerehabilitation provides an opportunity to improve the implementation of and adherence to CR. The purpose of the study was to evaluate a wide implementation and feasibility of home-based cardiac telerehabilitation (HTCR) in patients suffering from CVD and to assessits safety, patients’ acceptance of and adherence to HTCR.Methods: The study included 365 patients (left ventricular ejection fraction 56 ± 8%; aged 58 ± 10 years). They participated in 4-week HTCR based on walking, nordic walking or cycloergometer training. HTCR was telemonitored with a device adjusted to register electrocardiogram (ECG) recording and to transmit data via mobile phone to the monitoring center. The moments of automatic ECG registration were pre-set and coordinated with CR. The influence on physical capacity was assessed by comparing changes — in time of exercise test, functional capacity, 6-min walking test distance from the beginning and the end of HTCR. At the end of the study, patients filled in a questionnaire in order to assess their acceptance of HTCR.Results: HTCR resulted in a significant improvement in all parameters. There were neither deaths nor adverse events during HTCR. Patients accepted HTCR, including the need for interactive everyday collaboration with the monitoring center. There were only 0.8% non-adherent patients.Conclusions: HTCR is a feasible, safe form of rehabilitation, well accepted by patients. The adherence to HTCR was high and promising.
The "Wholesome Contact" non-pharmacological, volunteer-delivered multidisciplinary programme to prevent hospital delirium in elderly patients : study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Background: In hospital settings, delirium affects as many as 50% of older patients, aggravating their symptoms and
worsening their condition, and therefore increasing the risk of in-hospital complications and death. The aim of this
study is to assess the efficacy of structured, non-pharmacological care, delivered to older hospitalised patients by
trained volunteers (students of medical fields), on the reduction of incidence of adverse health-related outcomes.
Methods/design: This trial will be a randomised, investigator-blind, controlled trial conducted in an internal medicine
and geriatric ward in Poland. We aim to include 416 patients who are 70 years of age and have been hospitalised for
medical reasons. Eligible patients will be randomised 1:1 to receive structured, non-pharmacological care delivered by
students of medicine, psychology and nursing, together with standard medical treatment or standard medical care
alone. The protocol of interventions has been designed to cover nine main risk factors for delirium, with the scope of
multidisciplinary interventions being individualised and tailored. The protocol will be aimed at immobilisation, vision
and hearing impairment, cognitive impairment and disorientation, stress and anxiety, sleep–wake cycle disturbances,
dehydration and malnutrition, and pain. A structured evaluation of patients’ cognition, mood, anxiety and functional
performance is planned to be carried out twice, on the day of group allocation and at discharge; structured screening
assessment for delirium will be conducted daily using the Confusion Assessment Method. The primary outcome will be
the incidence of delirium in hospital; secondary outcomes will be in-hospital changes in cognition, mood and anxiety,
and functional status, occurrence of falls and death.
Discussion: Delirium prevention programmes are being introduced worldwide. A particular novelty of our project,
however, is that invitations for voluntary work with older patients at risk for delirium will be addressed to medical
students. With the use of the service learning method, the students will shape their attitudes, increase their knowledge
and understanding of hospital care, and master competencies to work within interdisciplinary teams, which establishes
the originality and practicality of the project
Clustering of geriatric deficits emerges to be an essential feature of ageing : results of a cross-sectional study in Poland
The effect of hemodynamically-guided hypotensive therapy in one-year observation: Randomized, prospective and controlled trial (FINEPATH study)
Background: The use of impedance cardiography (ICG) revealed to provide beneficial blood pressure (BP) lowering effect. However, the follow-up in previous trials was short and brachial BP was the only evaluated hemodynamic variable. Thus, we aimed to estimate the influence of ICG-guided therapy on brachial and central BP, impedance-derived hemodynamic profile and echocardiographic features after 12 months in a randomized, prospective and controlled trial (NCT01996085).
Methods: One hundred and forty-four hypertensives were randomly assigned to groups of empiric (GE) and ICG-guided therapy (HD). Office BP, ambulatory BP monitoring, central BP and echocardiography (left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic function assessment) were performed before and after 12 months of treatment.
Results: Blood pressure reduction was higher in HD (office BP: 21.8/14.1 vs. 19.9/11.8 mm Hg; mean 24-h BP: 19.0/10.9 vs. 14.4/9.2 mm Hg). However, the only statistically significant differences were: percentage of patients achieving BP reduction of minimum 20 mm Hg for office diastolic BP (27.3% vs. 12.1%; p = 0.034) and mean 24-h systolic BP (49.1% vs. 27.3%; p = 0.013). More pronounced improvement in the left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (delta E/A 0.34 vs. 0.12, p = 0.017) was the only other beneficial hemodynamic effect.
Conclusions: Beneficial BP lowering effect of hemodynamically-guided pharmacotherapy, observed previously in short-term observation, persists over time. Hemodynamic effects of such a treatment approach, especially those of prognostic value (central BP, myocardial hypertrophy), should be evaluated in further studies including patients with resistant hypertension, heart failure, diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease
QTc prolongation in patients with hearing loss: Electrocardiographic and genetic study
Background: The aim of the study was to determine, whether electrocardiogram (ECG) screening could reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death in patients with hearing loss through the early diagnosis of Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome and the introduction of the therapy.
Methods: One thousand and eighty patients with hearing loss (aged 21.8 ± 19.9 years) underwent ECG. Additionally, all subjects were asked to complete a 3-question survey. Those who met, at least, one of the high-risk criteria underwent further cardiac assessment and genetic testing.
Results: QTc assessment was possible in 1,027 patients. Mean QTc measured 422.8 ± 23.7 ms in 313 women, 414.9 ± 27.7 ms in 273 men and 421.1 ± 21.5 ms in 441 children (individuals younger than 14 years). Abnormal QTc was found in 13 (4.1%) women, 20 (7.3%) men, and 72 (16.3%) children. In the studied group, no recessive mutation of KNCQ1 or KCNE1 was found. In 6 patients, other mutations were found: in KCNQ1 (n = 1), in KCNH2 (n = 3) and in SCN5A (n = 1), which were pathogenic for long-QT-syndromes (LQTS), and 2 mutations of unknown clinical significance in SCN5A. Overall, out of these 6 patients LQTS was diagnosed in 3 asymptomatic patients, but with abnormal QTc and in 2 patients with normal QTc, but who were previously treated for epilepsy.
Conclusions: Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome is a very rare condition even in a population with hearing loss. In this population, the prevalence of prolonged QT interval is increased over the general population. Further investigations are necessary.
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