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Introduction:Addictive substances act on a number of neurotransmitter systems, and the end result of this action is the activation of the reward system in the brain. The cellular and neuronal mechanisms that underlie addiction have long been searched for. One of such neurotransmitters is dopamine, a catecholamine synthesized in neurons located mainly in the midbrain.

Drug addiction is a common phenomenon that increases with the progress of the European integration process. Professional help to people addicted and under the influence of drugs or other psychoactive substances should be provided primarily by health care institutions. An important and interesting issue seems to be the assessment of how people who have the most frequent contact with addicts are prepared to provide help, what is their knowledge and attitude to the phenomenon of drug addiction and to people addicted to psychoactive substances. The material for the research was a questionnaire for people who have contact and / or work professionally with people addicted to psychoactive substances. A total number of 253 people who had professional contact with people addicted to psychoactive substances were examined, including 102 men and 151 women. The respondents most often acquired knowledge in the field of drug addiction through the mass media. The exception is the professional group of doctors, which was the only one to refer to professional literature. Contact with drug addicts was not worried by 68.6% of doctors, 68.4% of policemen, 45.9% of nurses and only 39.0% of teachers. Fear may be caused mainly by possible aggressive behavior, which is feared by 49.8% of the respondents, including 58.3% of women and 37.2% of men. When it comes to 90.1% of respondents, they believe that the cause of aggression is the lack of control over their emotions. The results of the work can be helpful in creating new, satisfying solutions to difficult situations and developing cooperation characterized by empathy and acceptance.

Opioid receptors belong to the group of Gi and Go coupled receptors, inhibiting the activity of the neuron. Opioid receptors regulate reward and aversion. The opioid system contributes to self and species survival by promoting reward elicited by natural stimuli (such as food, sex and social interaction), regulating mood states and facilitating efficient coping with pain and stress. It is suggested that OPRM1polymorphism is associated with alcohol consumption especially increased in the case of G alleles subjects than A-alleles homozygotes. In several studies, OPRM1methylation was suspected to be predictive factor of opioid dependence in pain treatment.

Introduction.The period of socio-professional adaptation is a time when the new employee often feels insecure and is accompanied by emotional tension. Already in the initial period of work, an employee develops a specific attitude towards the environment, which, at a later stage, influences professional development or motivation.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of death which can be prevented in the developed countries. Smoking begins mainly in adolescence. Smoking in early adolescence is known to be associated with an increased risk of later addiction. Also the growing popularity of e-cigarettes, which attract young people with a variety of flavors, and are still little associated with harmful effects on health, unlike regular cigarettes. Exposure to nicotine in young people can affect learning, memory and attention, and lead to increased impulsivity, mood disorders and drug dependence. Nicotine and its derivatives are harmful to the human body, causing a significant increase in blood pressure, deterioration of blood supply to the vessels and acceleration of atherosclerotic processes, it has a detrimental effect on the gastric mucosa, causing gastric disorders. In addition, smoking is associated with the risk of many cancers: oral cavity, larynx, esophagus, lung, pancreas, kidney, liver and bladder. Nicotine addiction causes many health, social and financial consequences for the individual and the community as a whole. Multiple nicotine addiction risk SNPs were found in the CHRNA5/A3/B4gene cluster, with the best reported results for the risk allele derived from the non-synonymous SNP, rs16969968, in CHRNA5. Therefore, in the problem of addiction, including nicotine addiction, it seems important to know the neurobiological factors, including genetic ones, involved in these processes. This could lead to the development of new pharmacological and behavioral treatment strategies in the future.

Introduction:The COVID-19 is a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A number of psychological symptoms have been identified in people living during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them are associated with widely understood anxiety disorders, which have always been a significant problem for mental health.

Introduction:Invariably, the search for an “ideal drug” in psychiatry has been going for years, one that is safe and effective, prevents relapse and shows the least possible side effects.

In many patients with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection, psychopathological symptoms appeared in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The pathogenesis of mental disorders emerging due to the COVID-19 pandemic may include biological and psychosocial factors. COVID-19 can cause symptoms such as insomnia, attention or concentration deficit, anxiety, memory, orientation and consciousness disorders. COVID-19 affects central nervous system functions, which may cause neuropsychological symptoms in some patients, such as dizziness, headaches and consciousness disorders. Psychiatrists must be aware of the side effects of using certain medications among patients with COVID-19. Administration of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, in some hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is associated with occurrence of psychopathological side effects, such as mood and anxiety disorders, insomnia and sometimes psychotic symptoms. The COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact upon patients with already diagnosed mental disorders. Based on research conducted during present pandemic and past epidemics, it can be assumed that many of these patients will develop: anxiety and depressive disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorders.

Introduction.The illness acceptance is one of the most effective strategies to cope with a chronic illness.

Prostate adenocarcinoma, remaining among top most common cancers, is a heterogeneous group of tumors with a diverse morphological structure. Basing on the histological architecture of cancer tissue, individual cases can be classified into different therapeutic groups. Current diagnosis of prostate cancer brings many challenges. The major problem is the lack of effective and accessible diagnostic methods that would eliminate incidences of overdiagnosis and prevent unnecessary treatments of many patients. There are many efforts to determine favorable and unfavorable molecular prognostic factors. The basic marker currently used in this field is prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Increased level of PSA may suggest the presence of prostate cancer although its level is not specific for the disease and can be elevated also in certain benign hyperplastic or inflammatory conditions as well as after irritation or rectal examination. Clinical symptoms such as dysuria or hematuria are often uncharacteristic and benign prostatic diseases which cannot be confirmed on the basis of physical examination alone. Also, we often deal with the situation of false negative results of prostate needle biopsy, which require many tests to determine the final correct diagnosis. Moreover, prostate cancer can also be present in patients with non-elevated serum PSA level. Due to such difficulties, the search for new molecular markers that could be used for diagnostic purposes is underway. Evaluation of survivin level in prostate cancer tissue may serve as a new diagnostic indicator of prostate cancer progression. Other useful molecular biomarkers with good potential in prostate cancer diagnosis are AMACR (Alpha Methyl Acyl Coenzyme A Racemase), p-63 or Ki-67 or microRNAs present in body fluids.

The COVID-19 pandemic induced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes huge health burden. It influences physical and mental state of both, people who are infected and those who take care of them. The particularly exposed are healthcare professionals who have direct contact with patients infected with the SARS- CoV-2 virus. Workers belonging to this group especially often report anxiety, fear, mood disorders, frustration, loneliness, low quality of sleep, somatization disorders and phobias. Current efforts of the authorities are focused on preventing and limiting the spread of infection. What is missing, are specific interventions aimed at mental health care of the whole society, including healthcare professionals – doctors, nurses, paramedics, especially exposed to infection due to performed profession.

Taking into consideration the problem of “the cult of the body” among young women, the sociocultural context of their upbringing should be analyzed. Nowadays, it can be observed that many young women actively participate in promoting “the cult of the body”. The aim of the aforementioned actions is to get a slim, attractive figure consistent with the trends of women’s attractiveness promoted in the media. The analysis of the social networking sites and blogs indicates that more and more often women themselves are encouraged to promote their attractive, thin image in the Internet. This article will attempt to characterize the phenomenon of “the cult of the body”, in which adolescent women are engaged and which shapes their image of the body and has a potential influence on psychological and physical aspects of their existence. The analysis of the results of the research takes into account the analyzed subject and developmental conditioning of the time of adolescence in the context of sociocultural changes.

The demand for flexible and versatile robot systems rises due to the continuously increasing diversity and variants of the products as well as shortening product life cycles. Within the EU-funded research project FourByThree, ZeMA investigates various Human-Robot-Cooperation (HRC) robot systems such as welding and riveting. This research considers the three dimensions of production: product analysis, production process and production equipment. A methodology to design a mechatronic construction kit for modern applications is being worked on. This leads to the development of a HRC reconfigurable robot system.

Diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) leads to acute respiratory failure. This is why it requires rapid diagnosis and implementation of appropriate treatment. The standard diagnosis of a patient with DAH includes laboratory tests, diagnostic imagining (X-ray of the chest, high-resolution computed tomography), and bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage. We present a description of 2 patients diagnosed with systemic connective tissue disease and DAH, monitored with the help of lung ultrasound. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the use of lung ultrasound in DAH in adult patients.

The paper describes an application that allows to use a humanoid robot as a stutterer’s assistant and therapist. Auditory and visual feedback has been used in the therapy with a humanoid robot. For this purpose, the common method of “echo” was modified. The modification is that the speaker hears delayed speech sounds uttered by the robot. The sounds of speech coming from an external microphone are captured and delayed by a computer and then, using User Datagram Protocol (UDP), sent to the robot’s system and played in its speakers. This system allows the elimination of negative feedback and external sound field’s noise. The effect of this therapy is enhanced by the fact that, in addition to the effect, relating to the action of the delayed feedback, the speaker has company during the difficult process of speaking. Visual feedback has been realized as changes in the robot’s hand movements according to the shape of the speech signal envelope and possibility of controlling speech with a metronome effect.

As an organization founded on the principle of 'people helping people,' North Island Credit Union is delighted to recognize the many corporate philanthropists making a difference in San Diego. Community [...]

As the demand for food, feed, fiber, and, most recently, bio-energy increases, more land may be converted from native conditions for arable uses. Our objective was to evaluate soil quality under native forest, arable land being used for continuous barley (Hordeum valgareL.) production and land that had been tilled and subsequently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for at least 18 years. Several physical, chemical, and biological soil quality indicators were measured and a soil deterioration index (DI) was calculated using forest soil as the reference. Results indicated that most organic matter under forest resided on soil surface and was not mixed with mineral soil due to lack of activities by large soil fauna (e.g., earthworms). Soil samples from disturbed areas had a higher organic matter content, which caused most soil quality indicators to be considered ‘improved’ and resulted in better DIs for agricultural and CRP land than for forest soils. This study emphasized the importance of choosing an appropriate reference point for soil quality assessments, especially when data representing one or more key soil processes are missing.

Proper timing of second harvest is critical for good yields and long‐term sustainability of perennial hay crops in high latitude environments. We studied effects of second harvest timing and height on yield and forage quality for smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermisLeyss.), alfalfa (Medicago sativaL.), and cicer milkvetch (Astragalus cicerL.) in central Alaska. Second harvest treatments occurred every 2 wk starting approximately 3 wk after the initial mid‐June harvest and ending in late September at stubble heights of 5, 10, and 15 cm. Yields increased with increasing time to second harvest and decreasing height of cut. Forage quality decreased with increasing time to second harvest while the effect of cut height was variable. For subsequent year first harvests, yields of all crops were lowest for previous year second cuts done 30 to 40 d after initial harvest, and then increased with length of time to second harvest, but were still significantly reduced when second harvests were made as much as 8 wk after the initial harvest. There was little effect of second harvest timing on subsequent year forage quality. Second harvest cut height had little effect on subsequent year yield or forage quality. Our results showed that smooth bromegrass and alfalfa can be harvested late in autumn in central Alaska without adverse effects on subsequent year growth, but a second harvest earlier in the season reduces subsequent year first harvest forage yields. Cicer milkvetch died out before the end of the study and is likely not a suitable crop for central Alaska.

A shoreline to deep basin correlation chart for the middle Silurian coupled extinction-stable isotopic event is presented. The chart is a first attempt to synthesise new stratigraphic, faunal and stable isotopic data, as well as diversity changes among organic-walled microplankton (acritarchs), from the Grotlingbo-1 and Hunninge-1 cores on Gotland (Sweden), along with previously published data from the Bartoszyce IG 1 core (Poland), the Grafenwarth section (Germany), and the Ruhnu (500) and Ohesaare cores (Estonia). Accordingly, the relative timing of biotic, sedimentary, and stable isotopic changes associated with the event can be studied in high stratigraphic resolution across a basin area of ∼120 000 km2 (in the epicontinental Baltic Basin) and further off the Silurian continental margin into the Rheic Ocean (Grafenwarth section). A graptolite biozonation is presented for the Late Wenlock of the Grotlingbo-1 core and the middle Silurian carbon isotope excursion (CIE) is for the first time detected in stratigraphically continuous sections on Gotland. It starts close above the LAD of Monograptus flemingii and peaks at δ13C values of 2.4‰ in the Grotlingbo-1 core and at 3.8‰ in the Hunninge-1 core. The correlation chart forms the basis for several important conclusions for the mid-Silurian event: (a) it is associated with major and synchronous sedimentary changes across the basin independent of palaeodepth, i.e., the entire marine realm, from shoreline to deep basin, was affected; (b) the onset of the CIE is within the latest part of a regressive systems tract and related to carbonate platform exposure and termination; (c) the CIE peak interval correlates with the early transgressive systems tract and the development of laminated strata in the deeper parts of epicontinental seas, as well as with increased accumulation of organic matter in even deeper basins; (d) the major diversity anomalies among planktonic and nektonic taxa precede or occur close to the onset of the CIE.

The lundgreni Extinction Event (LEE) in Arctic Canada, as in other regions globally, exhibited an apparently abrupt and catastrophic reduction of graptolite and radiolarian taxa, followed by a short period of extremely low diversity, the dubius-nassa Biozone, followed in the subsequent praedeubeli-deubeli Biochron by the rapid evolutionary diversification of new taxa. The extinction event was very close to, or coincided with, a regression, as well as with a moderately strong positive δ13Corganic excursion. The excursion is bifurcated with the lower fork occurring at or near the LEE and the upper fork occurring in about the lower part of the praedeubeli-deubeli Biozone, possibly coinciding with a modest transgression. Radiolarians are diverse and abundant throughout the lundgreni Biozone, sparse to absent directly following the LEE (i.e., in the dubius-nassa Biozone), and found only sporadically within the praedeubeli-deubeli Biozone. Acritarch frequency throughout the entire investigated interval is extremely low, and only in one level in the lundgreni Biozone so-called “giant acritarchs” were observed. Sphaeromorph acritarchs and amorphous organic matter are moderately common in the lundgreni Biozone, extremely abundant in the brief time interval of the dubius-nassa Biozone at Rookery Creek, and only moderately common in higher strata. The presence of dark yellow and light brown-colored organic matter indicates that the absence of acritarchs is not due to reworking or thermal degradation but is, instead, suggestive of paleoecological control. Proximity to a shallower water shelf may have strongly influenced palynomorph/organic content.

We investigate the degree to which entanglement survives when a correlated pair of two-state systems are copied to two or more copies using either local or non-local processes. We show how the copying process degrades the entanglement, due to a residual correlation between the copied output and the copying machine (itself made of qubits).

This article presents several letters to the editor. One is in reference to an Ari Berman piece on Senator Max Baucas, while another concerns "The Persecution of Sami Al-Arian," as described in the March 19, 2007 issue. There several letters in response to a March 12, 2007, article on the film "Norma Rae."

During the last 4 decades reflux disease (GERD) has evolved from being a rare clinical problem to a disease with high incidence. This automatically rises its social costs. First descriptions came from western countries only but nowadays there are many published papers from Asia and Middle East that can be found on the Internet. There is no clear explanation for this fact. Our understanding of GERD has changed over the time. At first GERD, hiatal hernia and oesophagitis were synonyms. Since the 1940s when the first manometrical studies were done it was concerned as lower oesophageal sphincter or peristaltic disfunction. The following years gave a definition of acid-peptic disorder. Nowadays all this concepts are mixed together and we are considering GERD as a heterogeneous clinical problem. In this paper we would like to present up-to-date knowledge about GERD.

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Filter papers were tested for NH4and NO3contamination by eluting them with 2 MKCl solution and analyzing the leachate. Significant amounts of NH4or NO3‐N were found in many filters. Variability between grades and kinds of filters, among lots within a grade, and within packages was high. For cellulose papers, quantitative grades were usually relatively high in NH4and low in NO3. The reverse was true for qualitative grades. Glass fiber filters contained low but usually significant amounts of both ions. Most of the NH4‐ and NO3‐N was removed from cellulose filters by prewashing with water or 2 MKCl solution. Water successfully removed NO‐3but not NH+4from glass filters.

Summary Retardation chromatography has been reported to show stereoselective binding of the preferred sugar-transport substrate,d-glucose, by human red cell “ghosts” or by certain protein extracts of such membranes. However, no detectable differential elution of glucose (as compared with the poorly transported analogue,l-sorbose) was observed with columns of diethylaminoethanol-cellulose impregnated with ghost proteins prepared by either of the recommended procedures (using Triton X-100, or NaI followed by extensive dialysis). Celite columns bearing intact ghosts did show marked initial relative delay in glucose emergence, but this persisted only partially through the elution peak, to be followed by a nearly equivalent and much more protracted retardation of the sorbose. Moreover, this differentiation required that the columns be handled sufficiently gently as to leave intact whole-cell membranes or fairly gross vesicles; freeze-thaw treatment or abrasive stirring abolished both the early glucose retardation and the subsequent sorbose retention. Although conflicting seriously with the simple selective-binding interpretation, these phenomena accord with the suggestion that the sugarcomplexing entities on the columns continue to operate as “carriers” mediating sugar access into membrane-enclosed compartments. Effects of experimental manipulation of elution rates and of applied sugar levels lend further support to this interpretation. The capacity of the vesicular spaces so vastly exceeds that of the binding itself that resolution of the latter cannot be achieved through this approach.

Summary Equilibrium dialysis has been reported to show stereoselective binding of the preferred sugar transport substrate,D-glucose, by NaI protein extracts of human erythrocyte membranes. However, we were unable to show any detectable differential binding ofD-glucose (as compared with the poorly transported analogue,L-sorbose) with NaI protein extracts. The basis for this decided dissonance is not clear. Extracts with nonionic detergents, various alcohols, and pyridine were also used, but the results with these were also negative. Our data indicate either that the transport sites are not thus extractable in a functional condition, or that only a very small number of binding sites (less than 100,000) are involved with the sugar translocation; and that this method cannot serve to measure the site population unless a far greater concentration of the binding material can be achieved than has so far been possible.

The use of egograms both as a guide to the conduct of psychotherapy and as a measure of its outcome is assessed. The results of the study described here showed that after therapy the Free Child ego state was significantly strengthened. The results confirmed the initial hypothesis.

The Event-Related Potentials were investigated on a group of 70 participants using the dense array electroencephalographic amplifier with photogrammetry geodesic station. The source localisation was computed for each participant. The activity of brodmann areas (BAs) involved in the brain cortical activity of each participant was measured. Then the mean electric charge flowing through particular areas was calculated. The five different machine learning tools (logistic regression, boosted decision tree, Bayes point machine, classic neural network and averaged perceptron classifier) from the Azure ecosystem were trained, and their accuracy was tested in the task of distinguishing standard and target responses in the experiment. The efficiency of each tool was compared, and it was found out that the best tool was logistic regression and the boosted decision tree in our task. Such an approach can be useful in eliminating somatosensory responses in experimental psychology or even in establishing new communication protocols with mildly mentally disabled subjects.

Patients suffering from lung cancer exhibit increased serum levels of Cr, Co, Ag, Au, Zn and Fe. Serum concentrations of Se and Rb are found to vary within normal levels.