Early administration of LEvosimendan in Patients witH decompensAted chroNic hearT failure (ELEPHANT) study. Rationale and protocol of the study

Dobutamine and levosimendan are both indicated for inotropic support in acute decompensated heart failure (HF). The study aimed to assess the impact of early administration of levosimendan (first iv therapeutic approach) versus dobutamine (first iv therapeutic approach) on in-hospital treatment expenses and clinical outcomes in patients with decompensated chronic HF. The ELEPHANT study was designed as a phase III, multicentre, randomized 1:1, double-blind, active-controlled trial that will include patients admitted to the hospital due to HF decompensation. Co-primary endpoints were defined as total in-hospital expenses/survivor and duration of hospitalization/survivor. Secondary efficacy endpoints: on the last day of hospitalization: occurrence of treatment side effects, body weight change during hospitalization, BNP change during hospitalization, in-hospital mortality, additional levosimendan administration due to the ineffectiveness of the initial treatment. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to the active group receiving continuous infusion 24 h of levosimendan 0.1 μg/kg/min or to the control group receiving continuous infusion 24 h of dobutamine 3 μg/kg/min. After the enrolment of 20 patients, results analysis will be performed (pilot phase — single centre). Based on this analysis conducted according to the intention-to-treat principle, the final population size will be defined. The multicentre phase of the study will be initiated after the pilot phase

The loss of the right to recive the subsidy – the Supreme Court’s question of law (ref. no. P 8/17), concerning the Act on Political Parties

The Supreme Court’s question of law concerns conformity to the Polish Constitution of provisions providing an obligation of the National Electoral Commission to reject a political party’s financial report in any case when financial resources of the party have been collected or spent for election campaigns with an omission of the Election Fund, notwithstanding circumstances, reasons and scale of the infringement of provisions regulating the financing of electoral campaigns. The draft’s author claims that the rule in question does not conform to the principle of proportionality of legislative measures in relation to the expected aims of regulation, flowing from Article 2 of the Polish Constitution. With regard to the assessment of constitutionality of sanction for violation of rules concerning financing of electoral campaigns, i.e. the loss of the right to receive the subsidy within the following 3 years, during which the party is entitled to receive it, the author is of the opinion that this provision conforms to the ne bis in idem principle set out in Article 2 of the Constitution, as well as to the constitutional principle of freedom for the creation and functioning of political parties

Assessment of conformity to the Constitution of one of provisions of the Act – Code of Civil Procedure

The subject of the constitutional complaint are provisions of the Act – Code of Civil Procedure, applicable to cases concerning contacts with a child. The guardianship court orders the payment of a sum of money for the benefit of a person entitled to contact with the child when the person under whose care the child remains fails to fulfill the duties arising from the decision regarding contact with the child. In the Sejm’s position on the constitutional complaint, it was requested to find that this regulation does not conform to the Constitution to the extent in which a civil sanction is imposed on the parent having custody of the child when the breach of duties is a consequence of a negative attitude of the child caused by the person entitled to contact

Opinion on the Constitutional Tribunal Bill presented by the President of the Republic of Poland (Sejm Paper No. 1590) (BAS‑2229/13A(5))

The authors claim that the new Constitutional Tribunal bill, aimed at resolving many essential problems that have appeared in recent years in relation to the jurisprudence of the Tribunal, deserves a positive assessment. However, some of the proposed solutions raise doubts as to their constitutional basis and systemic consistency. The authors point out that some of the issues cannot be solved by the bill due to constitutional limitations. Therefore, they propose to link the adoption of the bill with a prior change of the provisions of the constitution which govern the functioning of the constitutional court. It is the only way to carry out the changes guaranteeing the appropriate level of adjudicative efficiency of the Tribunal. The authors also point out the need for legislative‑techniques changes in some articles of the bill

The case concerning the application of the Human Rights Defender of 8 April 2013 (Ref. No. K 47/12), on the Railroad Transport Act

The application concerns Article 3a of the Act of 28 March 2003 on Railroad Transport, exempting the application of certain provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations, to urban, suburban and regional rail passenger transport. In the view of the Human Rights Defender, the above said article – insofar as it indefinitely excludes the application of Article 21 para. 1 of the Regulation – is incompatible with Article 2 in conjunction with Article 69 of the Constitution and Article 9 para. 1(c) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed in New York on 13 December 2006. Despite these arguments, the Sejm decided in this case that the contended regulation is consistent with the relevant provisions of the Constitution

Draft position of the Sejm concerning the case ref. no. K 9/11

The article contains a draft position of the Sejm relating to the application submitted by a group of Deputies to the Constitutional Tribunal in which they contested some provisions of the Act – Electoral Law adopted on 5 January 2011, and the act amending it. The purpose of the application is declaration of conformity with the Constitution of several dozen provisions of both the legal acts. An analysis of justification of the position of the Sejm focuses above all on the new instruments of electoral law that were absent or reduced in Polish law. They include inter alia: a two-day vote, a proxy vote, correspondence vote, single-seat constituencies in elections to the Senate, as well as bans on the use of large-format election posters and slogans as well as paid election radio and TV ads. Based on detailed analysis, the authors claim that none of the solutions proposed in the new Electoral Code infringes the constitutional standards

Lead levels in non-occupationally exposed women with preeclampsia

There are many controversies regarding the relationship between lead exposure andcomplications in pregnancy. Preeclampsia (PE) is a maternal hypertensive disorder which is one of the main causes of maternal and foetal mortality. The aim of our study was to assess blood lead level (BLL) in Polish women with PE (PE group, n = 66) compared with healthy, non-pregnant women (CNP group, n = 40) and healthy pregnant women (CP group, n = 40). BLL was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and BLL in the CP group were significantly lower than in the PE group (p < 0.001). Logistic regression analyses of BLL showed a significant positive relationship with the presence of PE. Furthermore, both the SBP and DBP values were positively associated with BLL. This study indicates that preeclamptic women tend to present with significantly higher BLL compared to healthy pregnant women. There were no differences in the BLL between the CP and CNP groups.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio