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Among the documents left by royal envoys and the royal chancellery, the most credible evidence of being a part of a legation are the letters of credence. The custom of presenting them has been known since ancient times and it continues to this day. However, the extensive literature concerning the history of diplomacy in the 16th century does not devote much attention to this subject matter. The reign of Sigismund Augustus was a significant period for the fate of Central and Eastern Europe. The epoch when the last male representative of the Jagiellonian dynasty ruled was a time of reorientation of foreign policy priorities in the history of diplomacy of the Polish Crown. Therefore, the article aims to present a credible list of royal envoys, on the basis of the submitted letters of credence, who represented the interests of Sigismund Augustus at the court of the Habsburgs in Vienna. While conducting the research in the Austrian Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna, 45 letters of credence dated from between 1534 to 1568 were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bordetella pertussis strains, which have lost the ability to produce antigens, such as pertactin - Prn, pertussis toxin - Ptx, filamentous haemagglutinin - FHA, fimbriae type 2 and 3 - Fim 2 and 3, tracheal colonization factor - TcfA, have recently been isolated in countries with a high vaccination coverage. The emergence of such isolates might have resulted from B. pertussis natural evolution course or adaptive mechanisms, allowing increased circulation of the pathogen in vaccinated populations. So far, the majority of described mutants were deficient in the Prn production. Prn deficient isolates were found in countries which use acellular pertussis vaccines (aP) in routine immunization programmes. The increase of frequency of Prn- strains isolation was correlated with the period of routine vaccination with aP vaccines. In most countries, the spread of these isolates has resulted from independent mutations rather than from the expansion of a single clone. Prn- isolates were collected from patients showing typical clinical symptoms of pertussis found for Prn+ strains. Results of in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that Prn-, Ptx- and FHA- isolates retain cytotoxic properties, and besides Ptx- isolates, were lethal in intranasally infected mice. Further explanation of the impact of antigen deficiencies on virulence and transmission of B. pertussis in the context of the continuous increase of pertussis incidence is necessary to develop a new, optimized strategy of pertussis prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polish Cardiac Society recommends to use SCORE tables to estimate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in clinical practice. The aim of the study was (1) to compare the estimates of the risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) obtained by using a SCORE function calibrated for the Polish population in 2007 with the risk calculated from the observed number of CVD deaths in the last decade, and (2) to compare the estimates of the risk of death from CVD obtained by using a SCORE function calibrated for the Polish population in 2015 with the CVD risk estimated from the observed number of deaths in 2012, using data on the prevalence of risk factors from the two studies of the representative samples of Polish adult population (WOBASZ and WOBASZ 2). The risk identified by the SCORE 2007 function was higher than the observed risk by 20-40% in men and 18-33% in women. This indicated that the SCORE 2007 function overestimated cardiovascular risk. The risk calculated by using the SCORE 2015 function was more similar to the CVD risk estimated by using the current mortality data. However, SCORE 2015 function may overestimate CVD risk in future if the decreasing mortality trend would persist in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Kraków, the second largest town in Poland, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rate is lower than in most top largest towns in Poland and lower than the rate for total Polish population., Aim: The aim of the present analysis was to compare socioeconomic status (SES), prevalence of CVD risk factors and SCORE assessment of risk in Krakow with residents of other big towns in Poland and with general Polish population., Materialand Methods: We used data from the two large, population studies which used comparable methods for risk factors assessment: 1) Polish part of the HAPIEE Project in which 10 615 residents of Krakow at age between 45-69 years were examined, and (2) The WOBASZ Study which contributed with a sub-sample 6 888 of residents of Poland at corresponding age group. WOBASZ sample included 992 residents of big towns other than Krakow. Age-standardized proportions of persons with CVD risk factors were compared between Krakow and the other big towns in Poland and between Krakow and the whole Poland using χ2 test., Results: The striking observation was that in Krakow proportions of participants with university education were substantially higher than average for the other big towns and the whole Poland. Also, the proportion of occupationally active men and women was the highest in Krakow. In both sexes, prevalence of smoking, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension in Krakow was similar to the other big towns but the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and hypertension (in men only) was lower than average for Poland. The distribution by SCORE risk categories were similar in all three samples studied. In general, the distribution by BMI categories was less favourable but the prevalence of central obesity was lower among residents of Kraków than among residents of the other big towns and citizens of the whole Poland. Prevalence of diabetes was higher in Krakow than in the other samples studied. The differences between population of Krakow and population of other parts of Poland in the exposure to the main risk factors were found diverse and not big enough to be followed by differences in the distribution by the categories of SCORE risk assessment. The study suggested the importance of obesity and diabetes which are not used for the SCORE risk assessment and especially the importance of psychosocial and economic factors which may influence CVD risk and contribute more to the explanation of the regional differences in CVD mortality.

Introduction: Probiotics Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), when given in relevant dose, are able to induce strain-specific beneficial effects for health of humans or animals., Methods: L. rhamnosus strains originating from four medicinal products, 2 dietary foods for special medical purposes and dietary supplement, were tested for susceptibility to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics following L. rhamnosus and L.rhamnosus GG strain identity confirmation with use of PCR, rep-PCR and AFLP methods., Results and Conclusions: L. rhamnosus working seeds of medicinal products and isolates originating from dietary foods for special medical purposes or dietary supplement were found correctly classified on the levels of species or L. rhamnosus GG strain identities. Antibiotics and chemotherapeutics susceptibility profiles of L. rhamnosus strains allowed for choice of treatment options in six out of seven products under study.

Introduction: The optimization of quality testing strategy of products containing probiotics might allow to general improvement of its safer use in humans. The goal of the study was the evaluation of quality expressed by identity, colony forming unit (CFU) and antibiotic sensitivity ofprobiotics used in medicinal products available in Poland using the appropriate and validated procedures., Methods: The medicinal products containing L. rhamnosus, L. acidophilus, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and B. animalis subsp. lactis, L. helveticus, and L. gasseri were tested for species identity performed with validated rep-PCR (BOXA 1R) method. The antimicrobial susceptibility of working seeds and strains isolated to 26 antibiotics were tested by disk diffusion and E-test methods using relevant references as recommended by EUCAST. The numbers of probiotic strains, expressed as cfu count per package, was done using plating plunge method., Results: All strains tested, except B. lactis, were found to be resistant to trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, metronidazole, and colistin. B. lactis was resistant to aminoglycosides. L. rhamnosus strains were found to be resistant to vancomycin, (MIC > 256 microg/ml) similarly to ATCC strains (L. rhamnosus GG 53103 and 244). The sensitivity to other antibiotics was strain specific. The rep-PCR method was found species and strain specific. All products tested fulfilled declared countent as measured by cfu count/package., Conclusions: Quality of medicinal products containing probiotics was found undoubted and confirmed. The optimized strategy of quality monitoring of probiotics used in medicinal products can be used in dietary supplements and foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses.