Examples of modernization of historical housing estates in the outskirts of Wrocław – opportunities and threats

Recent decades have seen increased housing development activities in the outskirt housing estates of Wrocław, apparently driven by a trend of city dwellers escaping from the city somewhere “closer to nature”. This applies also to Brochów and Psie Pole, former independent small towns with characteristic spatial arrangement. Once absorbed by Wrocław, these housing estates were subjected to on-going expansion whose size exceeded many times their historical core area. Restoration of the historical centre of Psie Pole undertaken by the City in 2009 has produced controversial results. The modernised old Marketplace has become a dead space in spite of renovated buildings and modern spatial development of the square. Along with the market stalls at the former bus terminal the people disappeared, too. Commercial traffic was moved to the rear of one of the frontages, a so-called “shopping arcade”, in the vicinity of trash bins; whilst the benches in the renovated Marketplace are most frequently occupied by homeless people. Modernisation activities at the historical centre include: restoration, reconstruction or demolition of old buildings, construction of infill buildings, that often fail to harmonise with their surroundings.Effects of the modernisation works carried out at the historical housing estate for railway employees in Brochów, where, for example, only halves of the semi-detached multi-family houses were refurbished; confirm the necessity to adopt a comprehensive approach to the renovation process. Elsewhere, thermal retrofitting with polystyrene left the facades of the buildings deformed and their original character was permanently lost.Recent decades have seen increased housing development activities in the outskirt housing estates of Wrocław, apparently driven by a trend of city dwellers escaping from the city somewhere “closer to nature”. This applies also to Brochów and Psie Pole, former independent small towns with characteristic spatial arrangement. Once absorbed by Wrocław, these housing estates were subjected to on-going expansion whose size exceeded many times their historical core area. Restoration of the historical centre of Psie Pole undertaken by the City in 2009 has produced controversial results. The modernised old Marketplace has become a dead space in spite of renovated buildings and modern spatial development of the square. Along with the market stalls at the former bus terminal the people disappeared, too. Commercial traffic was moved to the rear of one of the frontages, a so-called “shopping arcade”, in the vicinity of trash bins; whilst the benches in the renovated Marketplace are most frequently occupied by homeless people. Modernisation activities at the historical centre include: restoration, reconstruction or demolition of old buildings, construction of infill buildings, that often fail to harmonise with their surroundings.Effects of the modernisation works carried out at the historical housing estate for railway employees in Brochów, where, for example, only halves of the semi-detached multi-family houses were refurbished; confirm the necessity to adopt a comprehensive approach to the renovation process. Elsewhere, thermal retrofitting with polystyrene left the facades of the buildings deformed and their original character was permanently lost

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in the service of biotechnology

Originating in the Andes, the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) was imported to Europe in the 16th century. At present, it is an important crop plant cultivated all over the world, and its production and consumption continue to increase. This popular vegetable is known as a major source of important nutrients including lycopene, bcarotene, flavonoids and vitamin C as well as hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. Since the discovery that lycopene has anti-oxidative, anti-cancer properties, interest in tomatoes has grown rapidly. The development of genetic engineering tools and plant biotechnology has opened great opportunities for engineering tomato plants. This review presents examples of successful tissue culture and genetically modified tomatoes which resistance to a range of environmental stresses improved, along with fruit quality. Additionally, a successful molecular farming model was established

The stereoselectivity and hydrolysis efficiency of recombinant d-hydantoinase from Vigna angularis against 5-benzylhydantoin derivatives with halogen and methyl substituents

The researches on d-hydantoinase activity and substrate specificity towards dihydropyrimidine and hydantoin derivatives have been carried out intensively over the last few decades. So far, the major efforts have focused on (R,S)-5-phenylhydantoin and (R,S)-5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)hydantoin, the most desirable d-hydantoinase substrates from pharmaceutical industry point of view. However, it was shown that d-hydantoinase is a substrate-dependent enzyme, and its activity and stereoselectivity towards 5-monosubstituted hydantoins varied significantly with the type of substrate and the source of the enzyme. The aim of this study was to estimate the substrate specificity of d-hydantoinase towards series of 5-benzylhydantoin derivatives with halogen and methyl substituents in the phenyl ring. The biotransformations were carried out by using commercial enzyme: immobilized, recombinant, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia colid-hydantoinase from Vigna angularis (rD-HYD). All reactions were monitored by capillary electrophoresis (CE), and the conversion yields were calculated. Additionally, enantiomeric ratios of the obtained d-phenylalanine derivatives were estimated by chiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Interestingly, the differences in the activities of examined enzyme towards particular 5-benzylhydantoin derivatives were observed. CE was also shown as a promising method for monitoring the hydrolysis of new substrates by d-hydantoinase and further analyzing of enzyme substrate specificity

Tonic and Phasic Dopamine Fluctuations as Reflected in Beta-power Predict Interval Timing Behavior

It has been repeatedly shown that dopamine impacts interval timing in humans and animals (for a review, see Coull, Cheng, & Meck, 2012). Particularly, administration of dopamine agonists or antagonists speeds-up or slows down internal passage of time, respectively (Meck, 1996). This co-variations in the dopamine level and clock speed has been typically induced by pharmacological manipulations (e.g., Lustig & Meck, 2005). However, it has not been assessed whether naturally occurring fluctuations in dopamine level are sufficient for altering interval timing performance. Recent advances in neurophysiology suggest that tonic and phasic changes of dopamine level in cortical-basal ganglia loop can be traced by fluctuations of beta power (Jenkinson & Brown, 2011). We assessed dopamine levels by measuring the beta power while participants were asked to produce time intervals by two key presses. Both tonic levels of dopamine as measured by the beta power before interval initiation and phasic level of dopamine as measured after the first key-press predict timing performance. These positive correlations between beta power and length of produced intervals support the notion that dopamine plays an important role in interval timing, even in the range of naturally occurring fluctuations

Development of novel cellular model for affinity studies of histamine H(4) receptor ligands

The G protein-coupled histamine H4 receptor (H4R) is the last member of histamine receptors family discovered so far. Its expression pattern, together with postulated involvement in a wide variety of immunological and inflammatory processes make histamine H4 receptor an interesting target for drug development. Potential H4R ligands may provide an innovative therapies for different immuno-based diseases, including allergy, asthma, pruritus associated with allergy or autoimmune skin conditions, rheumatoid arthritis and pain. However, none of successfully developed selective and potent histamine H4 receptor ligands have been introduced to the market up to date. For that reason there is still a strong demand for pharmacological models to be used in studies on potent H4R ligands. In current work we present the development of novel mammalian cell line, stably expressing human histamine H4 receptor, with use of retroviral transduction approach. Obtained cell line was pharmacologically characterized in radioligand binding studies and its utility for affinity testing of potent receptor ligands was confirmed in comparative studies with the use of relevant insect cells expression model. Obtained results allow for statement that developed cellular model may be successfully employed in search for new compounds active at histamine H4 receptor

Beyond xMOOCs in healthcare education : study of the feasibility in integrating virtual patient systems and MOOC platforms

Background. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are an emerging trend in online learning. However, their technology is not yet completely adjusted to the needs of healthcare education. Integration of Virtual Patients within MOOCs to increase interactivity and foster clinical reasoning skills training, has been discussed in the past, but not verified by a practical implementation.Objective. To investigate the technical feasibility of integrating MOOCs with Virtual Patients for the purpose of enabling further research into the potential pedagogical benefits of this approach.Methods. We selected OpenEdx and Open Labyrinth as representative constituents of a MOOC platform and Virtual Patient system integration. Based upon our prior experience we selected the most fundamental technical requirement to address. Grounded in the available literature we identified an e-learning standard to guide the integration. We attempted to demonstrate the feasibility of the integration by designing a “proof-of-concept” prototype. The resulting pilot implementation was subject of verification by two test cases.Results. A Single Sign-On mechanism connecting Open Labyrinth with OpenEdx and based on the IMS LTI standard was successfully implemented and verified.Conclusion. We investigated the technical perspective of integrating Virtual Patients with MOOCs. By addressing this crucial technical requirement we set a base for future research on the educational benefits of using virtual patients in MOOCs. This provides new opportunities for integrating specialized software in healthcare education at massive scale