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Ovaries and testes of Lithobius forficatus (Myriapoda, Chilopoda) react differently to the presence of cadmium in the environment
Get PDFProper reproduction depends on properly functioning gonads (ovaries and testes). Many xenobiotics,
including heavy metals, can cause changes in somatic and germ line cells, thus damaging the
reproductive capacity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the heavy metal cadmium
on the gonads, including germ line and somatic cells. It is important to determine whether cell death
processes are triggered in both types of cells in the gonads, and which gonads are more sensitive
to the presence of cadmium in the environment. The research was conducted on the soil-dwelling
arthropod Lithobius forficatus (Myriapoda, Chilopoda), which is common for European fauna. Animals
were cultured in soil supplemented with Cd for different periods (short- and long-term treatment).
Gonads were isolated and prepared for qualitative and quantitative analysis, which enabled us to
describe all changes which appeared after both the short- and long-term cadmium treatment. The
results of our study showed that cadmium affects the structure and ultrastructure of both gonads in
soil-dwelling organisms including the activation of cell death processes. However, the male germ line
cells are more sensitive to cadmium than female germ line cells. We also observed that germ line cells
are protected by the somatic cells of both gonads
The Rational Limits of the Criminalization of Abortion – Legal and Social Consequences of the Restrictive Approach
Get PDFThis article aims to analyze a proposed amendment of 2021 to the Polish Criminal Code relating to abortion. The starting point for the considered legal solutions is the equalization of criminal law protection of human life before and after birth. This means that a termination of pregnancy is to be regarded as homicide, with all its attendant consequences. This article analyzes the legal implications arising from the proposed amendments both in relation to pregnant women and other persons (doctors, relatives and even employers of pregnant women). The far-reaching repressiveness of the future anti-abortion law that is rarely found in the modern world is demonstrated. The analysis is complemented with an attempt to diagnose the social consequences of the proposed amendments using historical and criminological texts concerning such situations in the past, as well as on the basis of sociological observations of current social trends. The authors believe that the proposed law will prove to be ineffective, and children (including unborn ones) will be maleficiaries rather than beneficiaries of the amendments in question
Recent Advances in Sandwich SERS Immunosensors for Cancer Detection
Get PDFCancer has been one of the most prevalent diseases around the world for many years. Its
biomarkers are biological molecules found in the blood or other body fluids of people with cancer
diseases. These biomarkers play a crucial role not only in the diagnosis of cancer diseases, but also in
risk assessment, selection of treatment methods, and tracking its progress. Therefore, highly sensitive
and selective detection and determination of cancer biomarkers are essential from the perspective
of oncological diagnostics and planning the treatment process. Immunosensors are special types
of biosensors that are based on the recognition of an analyte (antigen) by an antibody. Sandwich
immunosensors apply two antibodies: a capture antibody and a detection antibody, with the antigen
‘sandwiched’ between them. Immunosensors’ advantages include not only high sensitivity and
selectivity, but also flexible application and reusability. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy,
known also as the sensitive and selective method, uses the enhancement of light scattering by
analyte molecules adsorbed on a nanostructured surface. The combination of immunosensors with
the SERS technique further improves their analytical parameters. In this article, we followed the
recent achievements in the field of sandwich SERS immunosensors for cancer biomarker detection
and/or determination
Izzivi pri določanju višin gorskih vrhov, kot so navedene v kartografskih virih
Get PDFThis study aimed to measure and validate altitudes from existing sources with direct GNSS measurements and airborne lidar data. For this purpose, 12 mountain peaks located in the south part of Polish territory were selected. Measurements were performed using a GNSS receiver using the Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) or static techniques enabling altitude measurements with accuracy of 10 cm. GNSS was treated as the primary data source, as the direct field measurements can determine the highest point on each peak. The obtained results were confronted with historical, internet sources, and official altitude data. Moreover, each altitude was determined using lidar data from an airborne lidar dataset of Poland from the ISOK program and provided by the national agency. Significant discrepancies in data were already detected during the analysis of internet materials and traditional maps, up to a few meters. The differences between measured and internet sources in altitude of mountain peak range from 27 cm to 504 cm. This study has shown the need to re-measure the altitudes of the mountain peaks and determine the highest point correctly
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic in the context of the human and the environment
Get PDFFrom 2019, life in the world has mainly been determined by successive waves of the COVID-19 epidemic. During this time, the virus structure, action, short- and long-term effects of the infection were discovered, and treatments were developed. This epidemic undoubtedly affected people's lives, but increasing attention is also being paid to the effects of the epidemic on the environment. Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines, a global scoping review of peer-reviewed information has been conducted on the use of over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infections and their positive andnegativeeffectsonthehumanbody,the effectsof non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on aquatic organisms, and their adverse effects on non-target organisms. The literature from 1998 to 2021 was analysed using the Scopus®, Web of Science™ (WoS) and Google Scholar databases. As non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs place a heavy burden on the environment, all reports of the presence of these drugs in the environment during the pandemic period have been thoroughly analysed. Of the 70 peer-reviewed records within the scope, only 14% (n = 10) focussed on the analysis of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs concentrations in wastewater and surface waters during the pandemic period. The percentage of these works indicates that it is still an open topic, and this issue should be supplemented with further reports in which the results obtained during the pandemic, which has been going on for several years, will be published. The authors hope this review will inspire scientists to investigate the problem of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the environment to protect them for the next generation
Przyczynek do rozmieszczenia pluskwiaków różnoskrzydłych (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) w Polsce – IV
Get PDFThis paper continues a series of publications on the distribution of true bugs in Poland. It includes new faunistic data for 273 species of true bugs. In total, data on 33 species previously unreported in 14 zoogeographical regions of Poland are presented, including some rarely collected: Charagochilus spiralifer, Deraeocoris ventralis, Emblethis griseus, Emblethis denticollis, Liorhyssus hyalinus, Pyrrhocoris marginatus, Odontoscelis lineola, Stephanitis takeyai, Tytthus pygmaeus. Moreover, a food source, unusual for Pyrrhocoris apterus, was presented – the fresh carcass of a small rodent. It is also noteworthy that this paper was largely prepared using citizen science. Many people (non-specialists in Heterop-tera) collected data constituting almost 20% of the presented records. Notably, the true bugs recorded in this way include species very rarely collected in Poland and species alien to Polish fauna (e.g., Oxycarenus lavaterae and Halyomorpha halys). Due to the lack of funding being a significant obstacle to biodiversity studies in Poland, citizen science seems to be the only way to effectively monitor all the dynamic places in national entomofauna
Z Afganistanu pod Filippi, czyli rzecz o standardach badawczych [Rec. Steele Brand, Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of War, Baltimore 2019]
Get PDFArtykuł recenzyjny traktuje o monografii autorstwa Steele’a Branda poświęconej motywacjom,
jakie przyświecały żołnierzom republikańskiego Rzymu. Jej omówienie stanowi punkt wyjścia
do zobrazowania szerszej tendencji, przejawiającej się sukcesywnym spychaniem problematyki militarnej
na margines życia naukowego, co skutkuje ponownym powiązaniem prowadzonych badań
z instytucjami wojskowymi. Wziąwszy pod uwagę, że te ostatnie nie zostały powołane do prowadzenia
działalności stricte naukowej, lecz ich nadrzędnym celem jest kształcenie oficerów, prowadzi
to do zubożenia dyskursu i powstania deformacji historiograficznych płynących z nieznajomości
uwarunkowań społeczno-kulturowych. Recenzja książki: Killing for the republic: citizen-soldiers and the Roman way of war / Steele Brand. - Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019
Influence of molybdenum on the microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Ti20Ta20Nb20(ZrHf)20-xMox (Where: x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20) high entropy alloys
Get PDFThe presented work was focused on investigating the influence of the (hafnium and
zirconium)/molybdenum ratio on the microstructure and properties of Ti20Ta20Nb20(ZrHf)20xMox
(where: x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 at.%) high entropy alloys in an as-cast state. The designed chemical
composition was chosen due to possible future biomedical applications. Materials were obtained
from elemental powders by vacuum arc melting technique. Phase analysis revealed the presence of
dual body-centered cubic phases. X-ray diffraction showed the decrease of lattice parameters of both
phases with increasing molybdenum concentration up to 10% of molybdenum and further increase
of lattice parameters. The presence of two-phase matrix microstructure and hafnium and zirconium
precipitates was proved by scanning and transmission electron microscopy observation. Mechanical
property measurements revealed decreased micro- and nanohardness and reduced Young’s modulus
up to 10% of Mo content, and further increased up to 20% of molybdenum addition. Additionally,
corrosion resistance measurements in Ringers’ solution confirmed the high biomedical ability of
studied alloys due to the presence of stable oxide layers
Searching for gravitationally lensed Gamma-ray bursts with their afterglows
Get PDFGamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at high redshifts are expected to be gravitationally lensed by objects of different mass
scales. Other than a single recent claim, no lensed GRB has been detected so far by using gamma-ray data only. In
this paper, we suggest that multiband afterglow data might be an efficient way to search for lensed GRB events.
Using the standard afterglow model, we calculate the characteristics of the lensed afterglow lightcurves under the
assumption of two popular analytic lens models: the point-mass and singular isothermal sphere models. In
particular, when different lensed images cannot be resolved, their signals would be superimposed together with a
given time delay. In this case, the X-ray afterglows are likely to contain several X-ray flares of similar width in
linear scale and similar spectrum, and the optical afterglow lightcurve will show re-brightening signatures. Since
the lightcurves from the image arriving later would be compressed and deformed in the logarithmic timescale, the
larger time delay (i.e., the larger mass of the lens), the easier it is to identify the lensing effect. We analyzed the
archival data of optical afterglows and found one potential candidate of the lensed GRB (130831A) with time delay
∼500 s; however, observations of this event in gamma-ray and X-ray bands seem not to support the lensing
hypothesis. In the future, with the cooperation of the all-sky monitoring gamma-ray detectors and multiband sky
survey projects, the method proposed in this paper would be more efficient in searching for strongly lensed GRBs
Adaptive learning in university students' opinions: Cross-border research
Get PDFContemporary education is often based on using e-learning courses, which have
become a popular means of delivering didactic material to students. Among the
main advantages mentioned is the potential possibility of creating individual ways
of learning and teaching. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of
the various approaches to adaptive learning, to present the comparative research
results of a Polish-Ukrainian study, as well as to highlight the options offered by
LMS Moodle (Modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment Learning
Management System) for the implementation of adaptive learning and the possibility
of taking into account the expectation of students regardless of the country.
During the study, an online survey was administered to 59 students at the University
of Silesia in Katowice (US), Poland and 121 students at the Borys Grinchenko
Kyiv University (BGKU), Ukraine between March–June 2020. All of the students
were studying online due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The classes were
conducted in synchronous and in asynchronous modes using e-learning courses in
the Moodle system, as well as MS Teams for Polish students and Google Suite for
Ukrainian students. At the same time, the majority of the surveyed students declared
that they lack personalization, both in terms of materials and the learning process,
which was limited in terms of fulfilment and they would like to have a choice of the
level of study