Innovation level and local development of EU regions. A new assessment approach

Abstract The main purpose of the study is to present a new approach to comparing EU regions according to their level of innovation. For many years, different organizations have published reports related to the innovation level of EU countries and regions. Usually, taxonomic methods are used to measure development in this area. The main disadvantage of this approach is that it offers an assessment of EU innovation level based only on the mean, while the main goal of this kind of analysis should include an assessment of results compatibility obtained in different areas constituting a composite measure. For this purpose, a different procedure based on the multi-criteria taxonomic method is proposed. In this method, the innovation level of every object (in the paper, EU regions) is assessed using results obtained in every group of indicators taken into account for this purpose. This means that EU regions can be divided into groups according their level of innovation in all considered areas, not only according to their mean value of development. This is the basic advantage of this type of analysis. An added value of the considerations presented in the paper is the possibility of obtaining supplementary information about the internal structure of the innovation of socio-economic objects. It should be emphasized that such analysis is a new approach to this kind of assessment. The results are especially relevant to associations such as the European Union, in which internal cohesion is one of its strategic developmental goals

Depression in patients with bronchial asthma

Wstęp: Celem niniejszej pracy była próba oceny występowania różnego stopnia zaburzeń depresyjnych u pacjentów z rozpoznaną astmą oskrzelową o odmiennych stopniach ciężkości. Materiał i metody: W tym celu badaniu poddano łącznie 120 osób — 80 pacjentów z rozpoznaną astmą oskrzelową o różnym czasie trwania, w stopniu od lekkiego do ciężkiego, hospitalizowanych w latach 2008–2010 w Klinice Chorób Wewnętrznych, Geriatrii i Alergologii Akademii Medycznej we Wrocławiu, a także 40 osób bez przewlekłych schorzeń układu oddechowego jako grupę kontrolną. U każdego z pacjentów zebrano wywiad chorobowy, przeprowadzono badanie przedmiotowe, wykonano spirometrię spoczynkową, a poziom zaburzeń depresyjnych oznaczono przy użyciu Skali Depresji Becka (BDI, Beck Depression Inventory). Wyniki: Zaobserwowano, że nasilenie zaburzeń depresyjnych było pozytywnie skorelowane ze stopniem ciężkości astmy oskrzelowej. Zanotowano także statystycznie istotny większy poziom depresji w grupie badanych mężczyzn. Wnioski: Należy stwierdzić, że występowanie u pacjentów chorujących na astmę oskrzelową objawów depresji o różnym nasileniu może być problemem w osiągnięciu właściwej współpracy z chorym i wymagać może konsultacji specjalisty psychiatry oraz zastosowania adekwatnej terapii. Zaburzenia depresyjne mogą również być związane z gorszą kontrolą przebiegu klinicznego astmy oskrzelowej oraz pogorszeniem jakości życia u tych pacjentów.Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of various degrees of depressive disorders in patients diagnosed with bronchial asthma of different degrees of severity. Material and methods: The study involved 120 patients — 80 with bronchial asthma from mild to severe and various prevalence of the disease hospitalized in The Department of Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Allergology, Medical University in Wroclaw, and 40 patients without chronic lung’s disease as the control group. The methods included a structural interview, body examination and spirometry. The psychological status was assessed by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: The level of negative mood state and depression was positively correlated with severity of bronchial asthma. Also relationship between the level of depression and male-gender was rather strong. Conclusions: It should be noted that the presence of negative mood state and depressive symptoms in patients suffered from bronchial asthma might be the problem in proper compliance and indicate that adequate treatment, when these psychopathological symptoms are diagnosed, should be implemented. It could suggest that depressive disorders are associated with worse asthma control and deterioration in quality of life

Biologia syntetyczna: budowanie funkcjonalnych układów ze standaryzowanych części

Biologia syntetyczna to nowa, dynamicznie rozwijająca się dziedzina nauk biologicznych, łącząca elementy biologii molekularnej, inżynierii genetycznej i bioinformatyki. Jej założeniem jest stosowanie inżynieryjnego podejścia do projektowania żywych układów pełniących rozmaite funkcje. To podejście przejawia się między innymi w tym, że tworzone, gromadzone i używane są standaryzowane "części" biologiczne, dające się w prosty sposób łączyć w bardziej złożone funkcjonalne układy. Istotny wkład w dynamiczny rozwój biologii syntetycznej ma działalność silnej społeczności naukowców i studentów uczestniczących rokrocznie w konkursie iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine). Drużyna z Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (UW) reprezentowała Polskę w tej rywalizacji już czterokrotnie. W ramach zeszłorocznego konkursu rozpoczęliśmy projekt mający na celu stworzenie "adaptorów ekspresji". Wyszliśmy od problemu jakim jest nierówny poziom ekspresji różnych białek znajdujących się pod kontrolą tego samego RBS (Ribosome Binding Site, miejsca wiązania rybosomu). Przy użyciu odpowiedniego algorytmu stworzyliśmy adaptory zawierające zadany RBS i pozwalające na uzyskanie jednolitego poziomu ekspresji różnych białek umieszczanych za takim adaptorem. Przeprowadziliśmy wstępne badania laboratoryjne, ale prace nad ostatecznym potwierdzeniem działania adaptorów wciąż są prowadzone na Wydziale Biologii UW. W tej pracy, oprócz zarysu projektu, rozpoczętego w roku 2011 przedstawimy zwięźle główne założenia biologii syntetycznej oraz miejsce konkursu iGEM w jej rozwoju

Prehospital procedures and transport of the diseased with a suspected Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – case description

Chronic iterative lung disease is an incurable disease that can be prevented. Available treatment, including cessation of smoking, allows the hindering of its progress. The goal of COPD treatment is to alleviate its symptoms, improve effort tolerance as well as the quality of life, and reduce the risk of progression by reducing the number of exacerbations. Medical Emergency Unit in Kielce accepted a call regarding a 55-year-old man who complains about severe shortness of breath for several hours, not responding to the medicines he has at home. The Basic Emergency Response Team is dispatched to the event In practice, emergency medical team interventions regarding patients reporting dyspnea are not uncommon. In a significant proportion of patients, dyspnea occurs as a result of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Rossmann-toolbox : a deep learning-based protocol for the prediction and design of cofactor specificity in Rossmann fold proteins

The Rossmann fold enzymes are involved in essential biochemical pathways such as nucleotide and amino acid metabolism. Their functioning relies on interaction with cofactors, small nucleoside-based compounds specifically recognized by a conserved βαβ motif shared by all Rossmann fold proteins. While Rossmann methyltransferases recognize only a single cofactor type, the S-adenosylmethionine, the oxidoreductases, depending on the family, bind nicotinamide (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) or flavin-based (flavin adenine dinucleotide) cofactors. In this study, we showed that despite its short length, the βαβ motif unambiguously defines the specificity towards the cofactor. Following this observation, we trained two complementary deep learning models for the prediction of the cofactor specificity based on the sequence and structural features of the βαβ motif. A benchmark on two independent test sets, one containing βαβ motifs bearing no resemblance to those of the training set, and the other comprising 38 experimentally confirmed cases of rational design of the cofactor specificity, revealed the nearly perfect performance of the two methods. The Rossmann-toolbox protocols can be accessed via the webserver at https://lbs.cent.uw.edu.pl/rossmann-toolbox and are available as a Python package at https://github.com/labstructbioinf/rossmann-toolbox

The first case of Spiroxys contortus in European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the wild in Poland

During standard parasitological dissection of 4 individuals of European pond turtle (E. orbicularis) (Linneaus, 1758) one nematode was found. In a morphological examination the parasite was identified as Spiroxys contortus (Rudolphi, 1819) and confirmed by DNA analysis based on sequencing of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. The partial 18S rDNA gene was deposited to NCBI GenBank with the accession number MN629917. This is the first molecular evidence of S. contortus in E. orbicularis from wild from Poland. The analyzed sample genotype sequence shows 100% similarity to the reference specimen from Argentina.Fil: Demkowska Kutrzepa, Marta. University Of Life Sciences; PoloniaFil: Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz. University Of Life Sciences; PoloniaFil: Roczeń Karczmarz, Monika. University Of Life Sciences; PoloniaFil: Palumbo, Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Studzińska, Maria. University Of Life Sciences; PoloniaFil: Różański, Paweł. University Of Life Sciences; PoloniaFil: Tomczuk, Krzysztof. University Of Life Sciences; Poloni

Hodgkin lymphoma transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia: cases report and discussion

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) is the most common form of leukemia affecting adults in Europe and North America. Large B-cell lymphoma known as Richter’s syndrome (RS) may develop approximately in 3–15 % patients. Furthermore, other hematological malignancies may also occur as RS variants, among them—Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). CLL/SLL transformation into HL is observed in about 0.5 % of patients, and till now, fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the medical literature. We present two cases of HL transformation of CLL/SLL and review the previously published literature

Emergence and potential transmission route of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in domestic cats in Poland, June 2023

In June 2023, a fatal disease outbreak in cats occurred in Poland. Most cases tested in Poland (29 of 47) were positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1) virus. Genetic analyses revealed clade 2.3.4.4b with point mutations indicative of initial mammalian hosts adaptations. Cat viral sequences were highly similar (n = 21), suggesting a potential common infection source. To investigate possible infection routes, our group tested food samples from affected households. HPAI H5N1 virus was detected in one poultry meat sample.</p

The first case of Spiroxys contortus in European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the wild in Poland

During standard parasitological dissection of 4 individuals of European pond turtle (E. orbicularis) (Linneaus, 1758) one nematode was found. In a morphological examination the parasite was identified as Spiroxys contortus (Rudolphi, 1819) and confirmed by DNA analysis based on sequencing of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. The partial 18S rDNA gene was deposited to NCBI GenBank with the accession number MN629917. This is the first molecular evidence of S. contortus in E. orbicularis from wild from Poland. The analyzed sample genotype sequence shows 100% similarity to the reference specimen from Argentina.Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectore