Biologically active compounds from selected aphyllophorales mycelial cultures

The obtained results confirm the hypothesis that mycelial cultures of domestic species of aphyllophorales are able to accumulate biologically active metabolites.Uzyskane wyniki wskazują, że przebadane kultury mycelialne krajowych gatunków grzybów afylloforoidalnych są zdolne do akumulacji metabolitów aktywnych biologicznie

Medical family businesses in Poland : model and managerial challanges

W Polsce występuje deficyt danych o cechach przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych świadczących usługi medyczne. Sektor medyczny w Polsce stoi w obliczu szybkiego rozwoju firm rodzinnych i jest zróżnicowany, ponieważ obejmuje różne wielkości podmiotów gospodarczych, które specjalizują się w wielu możliwych aspektach branży medycznej. Artykuł dotyczy cech przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych świadczących usługi medyczne oraz zakresu, w jakim przypominają one firmy rodzinne i do których wywodzą się z działalności usług medycznych. Artykuł ma charakter teoretyczny i jego celem jest zaprezentowanie modelu funkcjonowania rodzinnych firm medycznych, biorąc pod uwagę wpływ rodzaju działalności i organizacji rodzinnej. Pierwsza część artykułu koncentruje się na charakterystyce firm rodzinnych, stosunkowo mało jest reprezentatywnych badań analizujących udział przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych w polskiej gospodarce i opisujących ich charakter. Druga część artykułu to problem etosu zawodów medycznych w odniesieniu do logiki biznesowej i ekonomicznej organizacji. W trzeciej części artykułu znajduje się propozycja modelu łączącego oba aspekty funkcjonowania tego typu podmiotów gospodarczych.There is a deficit of data in Poland about characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services. The medical sector in Poland faces a rapid development of family businesses and is diverse because it encompasses various size business entities that specialize in many possible aspects of the medical business. The article is about the characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services and extent to which they resemble family businesses, and to which they are derived from medical service activities. The article is of theoretical nature and its aim is to propose the model for the functioning of family-owned medical businesses, taking into account the impact of the type of activity and the family organization. The first part of the article is focuses on characteristics of family businesses, there is relatively little representative research analyzing the share of family enterprises in the Polish economy and describing their character. The second part of the article is the problem of ethos of medical professions in relation to business and economic logics of an organization. In the third of the article part there is a proposal for a model combining both aspects of the functioning of this type of economic entities

Analysis of indole derivatives in methanolic extracts from mycelium of Agaricus bisporus cultured in vitro on liquid Oddoux medium

Methanolic extracts obtained from biomass of Agaricus bisporus (J.E. Lange) Imbach cultured in vitro were analyzed for qualitative and quantitative composition of non-hallucinogenic indole compounds in order to compare their amount with fruiting bodies of these species. Extracts demonstrated to contain six indole compounds. Contents of individual compounds ranged from 0.01 to 21.33 mg/100 g d.w. in biomass from in vitro cultures. The quantitatively dominating compounds included: 5-hydroxytryptophan (12.50 mg/100 g d.w.), Ltryptophan (14.00 mg/100 g d.w.) and serotonin (7.00 mg/100 g d.w.). Total content of the remaining indole compounds under analysis in the study was 55.32 mg/100 g d.w.Po raz pierwszy zidentyfikowane i ilościowo oznaczone zostały związki indolowe w kulturach in vitro Agaricus bisporus na płynnym podłożu wg Oddoux. Analiza wykazała, że ekstrakty metanolowe otrzymane z grzybni zawierają sześć związków indolowych: L -tryptofan, 5 - hydroksytryptofan, serotoninę, melatoninę, tryptaminę i 5-metylotryptamię. Zawartości poszczególnych składników w biomasie z kultur in vitro były zróżnicowane w zakresie od 0,01 do 21,33 mg/100 g s. m. Dominującymi ilościowo związkami były: 5-hydroksytryptofan (12,50 mg/100 g s. m.), L-tryptofan (14,00 mg/100 g) i serotonina (7,00 mg/100 g). Całkowita zawartość związków indolowych w badanym materiale wynosiła 55,32 mg/100 g s. m. Biomasa z kultur in vitro badanego gatunku jest dobrym źródłem 5-hydroksytryptofanu i L- tryptofanu. Kultury in vitro A. bisporus mogą być wykorzystane jako model do badań nad akumulacją i metabolizmem związków indolowych

Henry Johnstone's theory of philosophical argumentation : "argumentum ad hominem" and new methods of philosophical polemics

"At the beginning, let me introduce Mr Henry Webb Johnstone, Jr. He was born on 22 February 1920 in Montclair, and died on 18 February 2000. A distinguished philosopher, Henry Webb was teaching for four years at Williams College. Then, between 1952 and 1984, he taught in the department of philosophy at Penn State University. (...)" (fragm.

Jamming proteins with slipknots and their free energy landscape

Theoretical studies of stretching proteins with slipknots reveal a surprising growth of their unfolding times when the stretching force crosses an intermediate threshold. This behavior arises as a consequence of the existence of alternative unfolding routes that are dominant at different force ranges. Responsible for longer unfolding times at higher forces is the existence of an intermediate, metastable configuration where the slipknot is jammed. Simulations are performed with a coarsed grained model with further quantification using a refined description of the geometry of the slipknots. The simulation data is used to determine the free energy landscape (FEL) of the protein, which supports recent analytical predictions.Comment: 5 page

Mechanical Strength of 17 134 Model Proteins and Cysteine Slipknots

A new theoretical survey of proteins' resistance to constant speed stretching is performed for a set of 17 134 proteins as described by a structure-based model. The proteins selected have no gaps in their structure determination and consist of no more than 250 amino acids. Our previous studies have dealt with 7510 proteins of no more than 150 amino acids. The proteins are ranked according to the strength of the resistance. Most of the predicted top-strength proteins have not yet been studied experimentally. Architectures and folds which are likely to yield large forces are identified. New types of potent force clamps are discovered. They involve disulphide bridges and, in particular, cysteine slipknots. An effective energy parameter of the model is estimated by comparing the theoretical data on characteristic forces to the corresponding experimental values combined with an extrapolation of the theoretical data to the experimental pulling speeds. These studies provide guidance for future experiments on single molecule manipulation and should lead to selection of proteins for applications. A new class of proteins, involving cystein slipknots, is identified as one that is expected to lead to the strongest force clamps known. This class is characterized through molecular dynamics simulations.Comment: 40 pages, 13 PostScript figure

Influence of some physical properties of 5-fluorouracil on encapsulation efficiency in liposomes

The aim of this study is to encapsulate two drugs: 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with the hydrophobic properties and 1-b-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) with the amphiphilic properties into liposomes prepared by the modified reverse-phase evaporation method (mREV) from L-a-phosphatidylcholine dipalmitoyl (DPPC). We studied the thermotropic phase behavior of liposome entrapped 5-FU and Ara-C. It is known that the stability of liposomes depends not only on the method of chemical gradient loading, the use of membrane stabilizer such as sterols, but also on the phase transition temperature (Tc) of phospholipids, which undergoes an alteration after encapsulation of drugs to liposomes. The competition of these two drugs entrapped in liposomes was analyzed by the use of two spectroscopies: 1H NMR and UV on the basis of the analysis of the signals of each drug in the liposome- drug system. The percent of encapsulation in DPPC/Ara-C/5-FU liposome obtained by the use of UV spectroscopy amounted 93.84 and 96.05% for 5-FU and Ara-C, respectively. Phase transition temperature Tc of liposomes containing Ara-C did not significantly change while for the liposomes containing 5-FU it increased in comparison with Tc of the reference liposomes formed from DPPC