Rzym i Warszawa w podróżach Zygmunta Krasińskiego

Zygmunt Krasiński należy bez wątpienia do grona polskich romantyków, realizujących topos homo viator. Większość życia spędził on bowiem na kolejnych europejskich wyprawach – bywał częstym gościem w Genewie, Rzymie Florencji, Wenecji i Neapolu, a niekończące się wędrówki z czasem stały się jego znakiem rozpoznawczym. Krasiński zmaga się ze światem i samym sobą, szukając w kolejnych odwiedzanych miejscach choćby chwilowej ulgi i wytchnienia. Próba wypełnienia wewnętrznej pustki wrażeniami z kolejnych miejsc podróży nie przynosi jednak rezultatów – przeciwnie – przestrzeń aktualnego pobytu staje się nowym ośrodkiem cierpienia, równocześnie odbiciem i powodem wewnętrznej męki, której nie przestaje odczuwać. Poczucie niespełnienia i rozdarcia, których boleśnie doświadcza, realizuje się także w planie podejmowanych wypraw, w których szczególne miejsce zajmują Rzym i Warszawa. Stosunek autora Irydiona do obu znaczących dla niego miejsc nie jest jednoznaczny, a ambiwalentne ich postrzeganie staje się wyrazem ogólnej niemożności pogodzenia sprzecznych dążeń. Znacząca obecność opisów przestrzeni włosko-polskiej na kartach bogatej korespondencji motywuje do poszukiwania odpowiedzi na pytanie o ich miejsce w biografii Krasińskiego, pozwalająca także wnioskować na temat niektórych aspektów. psychiki ich twórcyRome and Warsaw in Zygmunt Krasiński’s travels Zygmunt Krasiński undoubtedly belonged to the circle of Polish Romantic poets who followed their version of Homo viator motif, for he spent most of his life touring around Europe. He was a frequent guest in Geneva, Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples and with the passing time his never-ending wanderings became his distinguishing mark. Zygmunt Krasiński struggled with the world and with himself, yearning for at least temporary relief and rest in successive places he kept visiting. Attempts to fill his inner emptiness with new images of different locations failed to bring any results. On the contrary, the places where he was currently staying became new centers of pain for him. They represented at the same time the reflection and the reason of his internal agony which he never ceased to experience. His painful feelings of frustration and being torn apart can also be observed in the schedule of his tours in which Rome and Warsaw featured predominantly. The attitude of Irydion’s author to both places, that were so significant to him, was not clear cut. His ambiguous perception of both cities reflects his all-embracing inability to reconcile his contradictory aspirations. The large number of descriptive passages portraying the Polish-Italian space, that can be found in Krasiński’s letters, motivates us to investigate the issue of how important these cities were in his life. Additionally, descriptive passages found in his correspondence offer interesting insight into the author’s psychological life

FT-IR imaging for quantitative determination of liver fat content in non-alcoholic fatty liver

In this work we apply FT-IR imaging of large areas of liver tissue cross-section samples (∼5 cm × 5 cm) for quantitative assessment of steatosis in murine model of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver (NAFLD). We quantified the area of liver tissue occupied by lipid droplets (LDs) by FT-IR imaging and Oil Red O (ORO) staining for comparison. Two alternative FT-IR based approaches are presented. The first, straightforward method, was based on average spectra from tissues and provided values of the fat content by using a PLS regression model and the reference method. The second one – the chemometric-based method – enabled us to determine the values of the fat content, independently of the reference method by means of k-means cluster (KMC) analysis. In summary, FT-IR images of large size liver sections may prove to be useful for quantifying liver steatosis without the need of tissue staining

Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2D6 oxidation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, multifactor autoimmune disease. The studies on aetiopathogenesis of autoimmune diseases focus on the impact the genetically conditioned impairment of xenobiotic metabolism may exert. The knowledge of oxidation polymorphism in the course of SLE may be helpful in choosing more efficient and safer therapy. W

Zastosowanie mikrospektroskopii absorpcyjnej w podczerwieni oraz modelu regresji liniowej do analizy ex vivo struktur drugorzędowych białek w tkankach zwierzęcych

Abstarct: FT-IR microspectroscopy in combination with chemometrisc is one of the most important modern analytical techniques used in studying biological materials, such as tissues or cells. It allows for identification and studying the spatial distribution of biochemical components in the sample while providing a high level of selectivity and resolution. Chemometrics, which is based on computational, statistical and mathematical methods to analyze chemical data, is a powerful tool in the study of animal tissues and observing the lesions. This paper presents an application of a linear regression model and infrared absorption spectroscopy (FT-IR) to analyze ofchanges in the biochemical profile of tissue caused by diabetic disease.Mikrospektroskopia FT-IR w połączeniu z chemometrią jest jedną z najważniejszych współczesnych technik analitycznych wykorzystywanych w badaniach materiałów biologicznych, takich jak tkanki czy komórki. Pozwala ona na identyfikację oraz badanie przestrzennej dystrybucji składników biochemicznych w badanym materiale, zapewniając jednocześnie wysoki poziom selektywności irozdzielczości. Chemometria, wykorzystująca metody komputerowe, statystyczne oraz matematyczne w analizowaniu danych chemicznych, stanowi potężne narzędzie w badaniu tkanek zwierzęcych w celu obserwowania zmian chorobowych. W niniejszej pracy przedstawiono zastosowanie modelu regresji liniowej oraz spektroskopii absorpcyjnej w podczerwieni (FT-IR) do analizy zmian w profilu biochemicznym tkanki wywołanych przez chorobę cukrzycową.

Electronic circular dichroism of the Cas9 protein and gRNA : Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complex

The Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 protein (SpCas9), a component of CRISPR-based immune system in microbes, has become commonly utilized for genome editing. This nuclease forms a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex with guide RNA (gRNA) which induces Cas9 structural changes and triggers its cleavage activity. Here, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy was used to confirm the RNP formation and to determine its individual components. The ECD spectra had characteristic features differentiating Cas9 and gRNA, the former showed a negative/positive profile with maxima located at 221, 209 and 196 nm, while the latter revealed positive/negative/positive/negative pattern with bands observed at 266, 242, 222 and 209 nm, respectively. For the first time, the experimental ECD spectrum of the gRNA:Cas9 RNP complex is presented. It exhibits a bisignate positive/negative ECD couplet with maxima at 273 and 235 nm, and it differs significantly from individual spectrum of each RNP components. Additionally, the Cas9 protein and RNP complex retained biological activity after ECD measurements and they were able to bind and cleave DNA in vitro. Hence, we conclude that ECD spectroscopy can be considered as a quick and non-destructive method of monitoring conformational changes of the Cas9 protein as a result of Cas9 and gRNA interaction, and identification of the gRNA:Cas9 RNP complex

Toward Raman subcellular imaging of endothelial dysfunction

Multiple diseases are at some point associated with altered endothelial function, and endothelial dysfunction (ED) contributes to their pathophysiology. Biochemical changes of the dysfunctional endothelium are linked to various cellular organelles, including the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and nucleus, so organelle-specific insight is needed for better understanding of endothelial pathobiology. Raman imaging, which combines chemical specificity with microscopic resolution, has proved to be useful in detecting biochemical changes in ED at the cellular level. However, the detection of spectroscopic markers associated with specific cell organelles, while desirable, cannot easily be achieved by Raman imaging without labeling. This critical review summarizes the current advances in Raman-based analysis of ED, with a focus on a new approach involving molecular Raman reporters that could facilitate the study of biochemical changes in cellular organelles. Finally, imaging techniques based on both conventional spontaneous Raman scattering and the emerging technique of stimulated Raman scattering are discussed

Chloroquine-induced accumulation of autophagosomes and lipids in the endothelium

Chloroquine (CQ) is an antimalarial drug known to inhibit autophagy flux by impairing autophagosome–lysosome fusion. We hypothesized that autophagy flux altered by CQ has a considerable influence on the lipid composition of endothelial cells. Thus, we investigated endothelial responses induced by CQ on human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1). HMEC-1 cells after CQ exposure were measured using a combined methodology based on label-free Raman and fluorescence imaging. Raman spectroscopy was applied to characterize subtle chemical changes in lipid contents and their distribution in the cells, while the fluorescence staining (LipidTox, LysoTracker and LC3) was used as a reference method. The results showed that CQ was not toxic to endothelial cells and did not result in the endothelial inflammation at concentrations of 1–30 µM. Notwithstanding, it yielded an increased intensity of LipidTox, LysoTracker, and LC3 staining, suggesting changes in the content of neutral lipids, lysosomotropism, and autophagy inhibition, respectively. The CQ-induced endothelial response was associated with lipid accumulation and was characterized by Raman spectroscopy. CQ-induced autophagosome accumulation in the endothelium is featured by a pronounced alteration in the lipid profile, but not in the endothelial inflammation. Raman-based assessment of CQ-induced biochemical changes offers a better understanding of the autophagy mechanism in the endothelial cells