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The aim of the study was to estimate the degree of anthropogenic risk by evaluating the level of the contamination of sediments collected from the Rybnik reservoir. The results of the determination of radionuclides ( 137 Cs, 40 K, 228 Th, 228 Ra, 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 238 U) and heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni) were presented. The Rybnik reservoir is located in a highly urbanised area, the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. Radionuclides ( 137 Cs, 40 K, 228 Th, 228 Ra, 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 238 U) were measured using gamma spectrometry. The heavy metal (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni and Cr) content was determined using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES). The classification of sediment pollution was made on the basis of geochemical and ecotoxicological indices. Radioactivity was varied with the highest for 40 K (more than 200 Bq·kg -1 ). The concentrations for the remaining radionuclides were mostly below 20 Bq·kg -1 . At the inlet zone (no. 9) an increase in radioactivity of each radioisotope was observed. The values of heavy metals from the lowest to the highest total amount in the sediments were as follows: Cd < Cr < Pb < Ni < Cu < Zn. The sediments of the reservoir are largely contaminated with Cu, but the sediments generally are contaminated to an average degree. Most pollutants accumulate in the inlet zone and near the dam wall. The content of artificial radionuclides, as well as the geochemical and ecological indicators used, can serve as an indicator of the level of anthropopressure in the vicinity of the Rybnik reservoir., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: We are currently experiencing a third digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence (AI), and the emergence of new chat generative pre-trained transformer (ChatGPT) represents a significant technological advancement with profound implications for global society, especially in the field of education., Methods: The aim of this study was to see how well ChatGPT performed on medical school exams and to highlight how it might change medical education and practice. Recently, OpenAI's ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco; GPT-4 May 24 Version) was put to the test against a significant Polish medical specialization licensing exam (PES), and the results are in. The version of ChatGPT-4 used in this study was the most up-to-date model at the time of publication (GPT-4). ChatGPT answered questions from June 28, 2023, to June 30, 2023., Results: ChatGPT demonstrates notable advancements in natural language processing models on the tasks of medical question answering. In June 2023, the performance of ChatGPT was assessed based on its ability to answer a set of 120 questions, where it achieved a correct response rate of 67.1%, accurately responding to 80 questions., Conclusions: ChatGPT may be used as an assistance tool in medical education. While ChatGPT can serve as a valuable tool in medical education, it cannot fully replace human expertise and knowledge due to its inherent limitations.

The aim of this study was to assess the association of long-term exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter, PM2.5, PM10, NO 2 and SO 2 as well as CO, with lung adenocarcinoma (AD) in south-east Poland for the years from 2004 to 2014. The study group consisted of 4296 patients with lung adenocarcinoma and the level of selected pollutants. To analyse the data, a standard statistics for cohort data, that is a risk ratio (RR), was used. The dependencies occurring in the distribution of pollutants and cancer incidence were examined using Moran's I correlation coefficient. The current study suggests that PM10, NO 2 and SO 2 exposure as an air pollutant may increase female lung adenocarcinoma incidence. In men, the increased risk of adenocarcinoma lung cancer is affected by SO 2 and PM10. A high morbidity rate in urban areas and suburbs may be connected with commuting from moderately polluted living areas to highly polluted working areas.

Background: Dental schools are considered to be a very stressful environment; the stress levels of dental students are higher than those of the general population. The aim of this study was to assess the level of stress among dental students while performing specific dental procedures., Methods: A survey was conducted among 257 participants. We used an original questionnaire, which consisted of 14 questions assigned to three categories: I-Diagnosis, II-Caries Treatment, and III-Endodontic Treatment. Each participant marked their perceived level of stress during the performed dental treatment procedures. The scale included values of 0-6, where 0 indicates no stress, while 6 indicates high stress., Results: Third- (p=0.006) and fourth-year (p=0.009) women were characterized by a higher level of perceived stress during dental procedures related to caries treatment. Caries treatment procedures were the most stressful for 18.3% of third-year students, 4.3% of fourth-year students, and 3.2% of fifth-year students. Furthermore, 63.4% of third-year students, 47.3% of fourth-year students, and 17.2% of fifth-year students indicated that they felt a high level of stress when performing endodontic procedures., Conclusion: Third- and fourth-year female students are characterized by a higher level of stress during caries and endodontic treatment procedures. The most stressful treatments for participants were endodontic treatment procedures.

Adequate ehealth literacy is one of the key instruments safeguarding people against unreliable health-related information obtained from the Internet. This paper presents an assessment of the reliability and the validity of a Polish version of the ehealth literacy scale (Pl-eHEALS). The assessment was carried out on the basis of two nationally representative samples of the Polish population. In the first survey of adults at least 50 years old, the technique of computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) was applied. In the second survey of young adult women (18-35 years old), the technique of computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) was used. The reliability and the validity of the Pl-eHEALS was analyzed. There were no floor or ceiling effects revealed in either sample. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.90 and 0.88, and Guttman split-half coefficients were 0.89 and 0.81, respectively. Exploratory factors analysis revealed single factor models in both cases. The sum of squared loadings in the first survey was 6.090 and accounted for 58.72% of the variance. In the second survey, the sum was 5.927 and was responsible for 55.06% of the variance. Hypothesis testing showed that, for older adults, higher ehealth literacy was prevalent in the respondents who used the Internet more frequently. Among young adult women, higher readiness to use the Internet as a primary source of health-related information and to undertake specific internet health-related activities was associated with higher ehealth literacy. The analysis reported in this paper confirmed the reliability and the validity of the instrument. It should be stressed that, prior to this study, there was no validated Polish version of the eHEALS that could be used with Polish-speaking respondents.

Introduction: In our department left ventricular aneurysmectomy was performed using only classic Cooley technique until 1989. Since then a modified technique was introduced: left ventricular geometry reconstruction modo Stoney simultaneously with the excision of scarred endocardium., Aim: Comparison of early clinical results after left ventricular aneurysmectomy using classic (Group A) and modified technique (Group B)., Material and Methods: Retrospective data analysis of early clinical outcome of patients (pts) operated from 1989 to 2000: classic technique 74 pts [63M (85.1%); 11F (14.9%); average age 52.26 +/- 10.35 years], modified technique 86 pts [74M (86%); 12F (14%); average age 55.83 +/- 9.3]., Results: No statistically significant differences between groups considering number of critically stenosed coronary arteries, left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular diameters were observed. Mean number of bypass grafts (gr. A 1.55, gr. B 1.69); aortic crossclamping time (gr. A 48.1 (24-77) +/- 12.9; gr. B 50.9 (0-91) +/- 16.1) were not significantly different between groups. In gr. A, 11 (14.8%) pts died: low output syndrome (LOS) 3 pts, LOS and ventricular dysrhythmias (VD) 5 pts, VD 3 pts. In gr. B 4 (4.6%) pts died: LOS 3 pts; LOS and VD 1 pt. Among other complications LOS and VD occurred significantly more frequently in gr. A. In both groups average postoperative ejection fraction increased; twice higher in gr. B than A., Conclusions: Modified technique: 1. Significantly decreases incidence of ventricular dysrhythmias in comparison to classic technique. 2. Significantly lowers incidence of low output syndrome and mortality rates in comparison to classic technique.